Rebooted: The C Saga
by thestripybag
Summary: I have returned and have rewinded and revived my old stories. Join Caleb the "better looking" twin of Quinn and his always faithful symbiotic/parasitic soul bond Levia as they travel all across Runeterra to gather allies for the battles to come and save the future. Poll Forum link and Commission info in my profile. Cross posted on Ao3. Enjoy
1. REbooted

Cast includes: Caleb, The Hood, Levia, Sona, Neeko along with Arcade MF, Arcade Riven, and Battle Boss Samira cameos

Our scene opens in a smoky and gray void deprived of anything, save for several blurs moving through the large expanses of nothingness with quick flashes of a blue, white,and purple gradients. The sources of these flashes is a young man in a concealing black duster who just narrowly avoided his massive enemy by entering a special spectral form and the energy he has been using to combat this demon makes his body transparent. As he starts to plummet through the dark recesses of his mind, the fibers of his hood fire towards one of the rare land motes that float through this a tug of the line he his body towards the land mass before catching a glimpse of the great beast with his vibrant amber eyes hidden beneath scarlet goggles. It's body if you could even call it that is that of a massive wyrm made of night with small blue "stars" for eyes that are filled with only hostility for its prey, and the hole it possesses for a mouth promises only oblivion.

Latching another of his apparel's fibers to the land mass he is on, the mysterious fighter launches a separate one that holds the serpentine creature before combining both lines to send the monster hurling towards his island. In the brief moment his foe is sent spiraling to his location, he raises both gloves hands towards the air, and from his cloak, he manifests a magnificent blade starting with the golden hand guard to the dark purple blade that only has it's corruption and impurity matched by the blades aura of infinity. Its wielder is quick to prove however that the blade is not simply for display as it begins to channel the brilliant energy from earlier, and with his enemy making shattering the ground beneath his feat. Our swordsman raises his blade in the air before unleashing a massive beam, empowered by his very soul to collide with the immense invader.

Falling with the enemy within into the nothingness it makes a desperate lunge to devour our perspective character whole and succeeds. Before it can even consider swallowing him, however, an aura of Void energy and Celestial power glow from within it's maw as it's trap is pried. The blade which very existence is a contradiction has changed it's form to that of a pair of clawed gauntlets and greaves which it's wielder uses to assist his escape, but not before also pummeling the roof of his captor's mouth in a flurry of blows; barely passing the teeth by going spectral, he turns to fires his mystical weapon that has again changed, except this time into a pair of dual crossbows that fire a globe of destructive energy towards the beast. With his nemesis blinded by the blast to the eyes the only this that stops the warrior from flinging himself towards it's skull in a desperate lunge is the fact for the first time since he has entered this place it speaks to him.

"Caleb wait!"- The great being declares.

"Shut up Levia!"- The hooded one counters as he turns his Betwixt blade into its saw blade form before realizing he shouldn't know any of the names that enter his mind.

The two confused entities have their dramatic descent rapidly slow before they touch the metaphysical ground. More memories of a previous life begin to enter both of their minds, a life similar to the one spent in this life but remixed. One final thought enters both of these powerful being heads that rapidly brings them to runeterra firma. A taste that might grow to be familiar but never becomes any sweeter.

"We failed."- Both combatants deflate as they realize an ally of theirs was forced to restart the timeline due to them failing to prevent Runeterra and by extension their whole universe's destruction.

"Do you recall why we failed?"- The serpent known as Leviathan ask her partner who has taken to calling her Levia for short and to pester the large dark entity.

"All I can recall is a big flash and a burning sensation. Other than that nothing."- The cloaked figure known as Caleb or to most of the worlds by his alias that he inherited from other mortals before him,C.

It doesn't take long before the entity that is his very clothes makes its presence known by declaring even the memories of past C's have been altered as well as the history of the world. After quickly comparing all the alternate memories from the past timeline with the memories from the current one the trio are able to determine that at least the "champions" both old and new still exist to one extent or another in this new world.

"Caleb do you need a refresher again on your story?"- Inquires two of the other entities residing inside of the young C's body.

Focusing his mind onto the events of his current life and with aid from his old memories Caleb is able to more easily recall the life he'd live to this point. As always it starts with the previous C by the name of Nita rescuing him from an untimely demise as a child. This time however it seems rather than saving him from the demon Tahm Kench instead she has taken his failed body from it's very grave outside of Uwendale and manage to revive him from his fatal encounter with the tuskvore using the cloak to close his wounds and her personal, Oblivion Energies, to return him to consciousness before the afterlife could completely take him. The older Noxian woman in grey fatigues and a matching poncho with a hood that can barely contain her wild greying hair takes the young man with her.

Over the next few years the duo, who were they not fated to meet would never have met due to their backgrounds, travel all across the world from their base in Zaun. All good things must come to an end however as a job into a nearby mine goes wrong as the hooded are double crossed by the other Numerals. After escaping the disastrous mine collapse at the cost of Nita Caleb is overwhelmed by both the flood of power and memories that enter his body from inheriting the mysterious cloak along with the loss of his mentor he is sent into a comatose state.

The start of his teen years aren't pleasant to say the least as experiments done to his body allows a dark spirit by the name of Dullahan to inhabit his form before being unleashed on Ionia. Eventually the mythic being is suppressed during a chemical attack and C takes control again as the spirit goes to rest inside of him.

For the next several years, Caleb survived and lived amongst some of Runeterra's harshest places from the brutal streets of Bilgewater, to the unforgiving Freljord, and even off world in dreaded places such as the Void rifts; reclaiming some of his soul that he lost with the help of his predecessors in the afterlife. Almost a decade after it happened, Caleb returns to Zaun and in a violent war with the group that had betrayed his kind, he takes his vengeance for Nita.

Over the years he also manages to come across shards of a crystal that housed the Leviathan in them, as well as befriending various individuals all over the all the shards were put together, his body was enveloped in an armor that started to drain him of his consciousness and turn him into a host for Levia but was unable to. With his story fully recalled what was once a dreary void has now turned into a landscape of various memories.

"So you guys wanna get out of here?"- Caleb ask his companions as if they would say no.

Deep in the depths of the ocean where the beyond ancient armor fell to after blinking him randomly all over the world during the battle of wills it begins to stir. On a hidden beach off the coast of the Noxian Empire a group of sum twenty total smuggler and slave traders are exchanging gold for a dozen slaves caught in Ionia. As the chained prisoners are being loaded up into a nearby carriage the water starts to boil immensely and captures the attention of all those nearby. From the sea emerges a figure coated in a menacing set of silver,gold, and black armor and upon leaving the surf releases a massive demonic roar from it's faceless helm that sends the horses of the traders fleeing in immediate panic as the instincts of those who hear it have their flight or fight reaction. All except for one of the smugglers and a pair of chimera vastaya who from a past life recognize the monster that has come.

"Boss." Is the only words that leave their lips as the roar of the Dark Armor reminds them of who they were and of the man who helped them so much in their previous incarnation.

"Oh my gods it feels so good to breath air again! I was down there for like a month which I must admit is a lot better timing than my previous times. Oh wow do you all feel that breeze? Feels good. Oh wait a second I can actually feel stuff this lifetime? Hood what the hell have you been holding out on us for?"- As Caleb rants on about his newfound freedoms most of the smugglers have begun to draw their weapons to attack. The lone one who remembers their old friend starts to escort the slaves away from the upcoming fight. With two of their kind leading the escape the Ionians go along with the escape plan. When armor finally melds back into C one of his former confederates shouts out to him, "Give them hell boss!" before running off with the people he would have let get away anyways into the nearby treeline.

"Thank you Dave!"- The ecstatic hooded shouts back before finally taking note of the scum trying to surround him. Seeing this as a warm up to test out his new abilities and get back into fighting after a hiatus our hero summons his Betwixt Blade.

'Oh boy. It feels good to be back doesn't it C?'- Mentally ask the ever bloodthirsty Levia.

"Yes it does Levia."- He answers back before using a Coercion line to slam two of the three slavers who charged him head first into each other before their limp bodies tip the last straight into Caleb's kicking foot. After taking out his enemies something strange happens that the hooded has never seen before and it's a strange letter that seems made out of his energy appears and forms a D.

"Wait do I have a style meter now? Holy shit that's awesome! Well come on you guys get to be the first poor bastards I style on after my nap."- Caleb taunts and notices his rating bumps up to a C from doing so.

Figuring one of his predecessors, most likely the Eccentric, gave him this gift he decides to test it and himself out even more. A volley line of flintlocks and crossbows had been set up while he was thinking but before the projectiles could even touch him Caleb Spectre dashes to safety while avoiding the damage sent at him. B. The smugglers are sent either flying or scurrying as a massive orb of energy gets sent flying at them before exploding. A.

Both groups quickly find themselves under a hail of bolt fire from both of C's "crossbows". Using another pair of Coercion tethers to launch himself towards the carriage that was being used as cover by some of the shattered firing line C keeps up the pressure by swapping to his gauntlets and with a chant of "Lowl!" beats several of them to death before sending the bodies crashing into their allies or against the various nearby rocks or trees. S!

With only a handful of fleeing enemies remaining alive and conscious Caleb is overcome with a familiar feeling as the Dark Armor emerges once again to reward him by sending him into overdrive. Quickly closing the gap on foot the former leader of these fools is given a quick beatdown before the rest have their escape route cut off when a Pumpkin Slash slams down in front of them. SS!

As they desperately attempt to draw their melee weapons the one closest to C has the Betwixt Blade thrown and impaled in her. By the time the dead woman's body hits the ground her killer has blinked to where she stood and drawn it from her corpse. Despite clearly out classing his prey in terms of physical combat the destructive force feels it needs to end this with a bang crushes one of the last two survivor's skulls into a tree with another Coercion line. With a desperate lunge the final meat bag finds himself picked up by his neck before being impaled and bisected by the Betwixt Blade's saw form. SSS!

Coming down from both his power and blood lust high Caleb takes in the carnage around him with a tinge of sadness that these people would find themselves in combat with him instead of leading good lives.

Unbeknownst to him, however his roar has carried on the winds as various people from all over the world hear his call. From a freshly made cyborg with future inspired augments to a lone former shadow ninja who just cleaned up an encampment of his former fellow students to a disguised amalgamation in a Zaun alleyway feasting on flesh to a lone woman playing some music on a freljordian cliff. The most important one though is a woman in the wilds of Demacia currently tracking some game with her faithful avian companion.

"It couldn't be."- A startled Quinn thinks aloud upon hearing something on the wind. She is quickly brought back to earth when her partner Valor alerts her that their quarry, a couple of noxian warmasons are nearing the border via a river just downhill from her as she suspected they would. Meanwhile on the other side of the continent Caleb and Levia try to plan out what to do next.

"Huh so this is what it's like to show up early for a party."- The hooded remarks as he puts away all the freshly looted valuables from the bodies into his hood's dimensional pockets.

'Why don't we meet up with everyone earlier than expected? I mean it would give us time to prepare and even dick around a bit. We were kind of rushing to assemble an army last time.'- Levia replies in an unusually wise way or at least to Caleb she does.

Managing to find a nearby Bandle portal C teleports his way south to the Valoran coast. Heading to a place he questions if it still even exist the past hooded manage to once again gift him with something invaluable to his cause. Hidden on the side of a cliff he manages to find a pathway towards an underground factory and manage to reawaken the automatons within. With these constructs active again all he requires now is items for them to begin replicating. Leaving the hidden wonderland of clockwork and machines the cloaked man wonders where to spend the night.

"Well I could try to find the Hooded manor but that might take a bit to find."- Caleb ponders while turning the makeshift spit on his captured . If you were curious how he is doing this all the hooded warrior has done is turn his blade into it's greatsword version, impaled some birds on them,used two Coercion lines to hang it from a tree, and is using Pumpkin Energy like a blow torch on it.

'You probably would wanna eat that with some barbeque sauce. Hmm you think that woman Gwen would be able to help?'- Levia wonders while looking at the tender meat cooking.

"I think she might be regenerating into a younger form right now since that's how hemomancers work apparently. Hmm I wonder if Sona would be willing to let me crash at her manor?"- Caleb responds as he takes his hot meal off the Betwixt blade before using the gauntlets to hold it.

"Well Caleb you proved me wrong on using powerful weapons and artifacts to do mundane, stupid shit. I mean most people would want Coercion lines or a shape shifting sword that can wipe things from existence or fucking lasers but you managed to use them to cook a crappy dinner for yourself good for you. Also you only wanna see her because you wanna see if you could what was that?"- Levia cuts off mid rant to alert C to a potential nearby threat.

Emerging from the nearby bushes come a bunny but having seen enough weird stuff in his life to know something is up Caleb launches a line at the mammal only for it to turn into a reptilian girl as it's strung upside down from a nearby tree.

"Please don't eat Neeko like her beak friends!"- The lizard girl shouts out in panic at being caught.

"Oh it's just you Neeko. I heard about you from Nidalee and I like to think I'm still on good terms with her. - _ - We're friends her and me."- Caleb declares before recalling the Coercion line that is holding Neeko up but not before it gently puts her back down.

"Neeko doesn't want to eat bird friend so soon. Does this one have cheese bread?"- The innocent vastaya ask before a quick "No." shifts her look to disappointment.

"Hey don't look at me like that. I just came here after being uhh asleep for a bit and I was hungry. I think there is a town fairly close here so I can maybe find you something. Just stop looking at me with those big sad eyes. Hate seeing things looking sad."- Caleb comments as he quickly finishes his meal away from sad eyes before inviting her into the Bandle wood that brought him here.

Before that though Neeko turns into a yordle and mentions it would be better this way. The two arrive out of a small plant growing out of the cobble stone in a nearby alley that just got hit by a drop of rain water. After thanking the young being the duo make their way to a nearby store with Neeko changing shape to that of a child since she wants to stay smaller for a bit longer.

After profusely apologizing to a mage seeker C bumped into he is able to easily buy Neeko some of her favorite snacks from a local vendor. Scaling up the side of a building the duo have a small "picnic" as they watch the sun set in the distance from the rooftops.

After taking in the small things in life like a sun set he might try to paint later and a nice companion to share food with Caleb decides to depart as he tries to see if a friend of his will let him crash at her place. Granted she's probably forgotten him with all the fame she's gotten but his previous life gives him some hope she hasn't.

Emerging from the last ray of sunlight in the day Caleb finds himself on a beautiful vineyard with a field of flowers separating it from a manor built on top of a nearby hill as the last of the servants leave for the night past the gate. With no one in sight or out of it Caleb takes his hood and goggles off so the mist that normally obscures his face dissipates before knocking on the door. Taking out a small basket filled with bread, cheese, and leftover raptor meat the young man tries to push back his purple hair to make himself look decent.

"I can't do this. She's gonna cut my head off with that etwahl I just know it. We should leave. Have you and the hood set up a network in the portals yet?" Ask a nervous Caleb who is really hoping the answer is yes.

'We need until tomorrow morning and from there we should be able to easily teleport just about anywhere we want. So quit being a little bitch and oh wait I see a light coming this way. Put on the charm you bastard!' Levia shouts back as a means of "encouragement" before a figure opens the front door. Standing in the foyer is the Maven of Strings herself and is thoroughly shocked to see a boy she once knew standing there as a man.

"Uhhh hey Sona. Would you mind if I came into your home? I lack a place to stay for the night. I brought some food and if you want you can umm talk with me. You don't have to do anything but I'd really appreciate it." Caleb says as he holds forwards a bundle of wild flowers and the food basket. Before he can get an answer the woman politely excuses herself for a minute but makes a gesture for him to stay there.

'Really dog you brought her a bunch of random flowers you found in the woods and a basket of food like that would convinces her to let you stay over?! Really and then you go asking her if she wanted to talk with you telepathically like you should know that already? Oh god she's trying to get into my head. Just a second Sona. Okay I should get this cringiness out of me quickly. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' Are the thoughts quickly going through Caleb, currently feeling like his title is The Damned One's, head.

Walking into the massive house after being invited in he notices that Sona has found a key that she hands him before telling him that it's to a guest room on the second floor. He follows his hostess when she offers him a drink which he immediately accepts if only to spend more time around the muse.

'So what have you been up too since I last saw you? Gosh, it's been years since we last saw each other and I almost didn't recognize you when I opened the door. But I'm more than willing to let you stay the night.' Sona mentally communicates to Caleb while getting a kettle of tea ready.

"Oh I've been all over the place just seeing the world and getting to know people. You know it might come off as a bit of a surprise but I've actually found out who I was before I got to the orphanage. Turns out I actually met your mom before she came to get you." Caleb desperately tries to reply in as cool of a way as possible.

'Well that sounds interesting especially that last part. So how did you and Lestara meet each other?' Sona inquires with her interest peaked even more by her old friend.

"Well I umm you see I might have saved her life a long time ago but I got really badly hurt in doing so… you know what just forget about it. Hey this tea is pretty good is it jasmine tea?" Says the man who has survived both metaphorical and literal Hell a plethora of times. But internally he's asked for a brief mental break to do this.

'What the fuck was that?! Get your head in the fucking game man! You nuked all the summoners and made a bunch of "godlike" entities your bitch but you can't talk to a fucking woman?! The hell is wrong with you?! Is this even jasmine tea? You don't know dick about tea! Why the fuckity fuck would you try to start a conversation centered around it?!'

After finishing their chamomile tea the two go to leave for their respective bedrooms but not before Sona ask him to follow her again. The two of them wind up in a room full of all sorts of instruments including the legendary etwahl. When the stringed death machine enters Sona's hands Caleb can already feel his body start to face towards spectral mode. His fear of her wanting to kill him for knowing her secrets however are stopped however when she walks towards a piano's seat and sits down before inviting him to sit next to her.

'I heard of a similar story when mother brought me here. She said once that I was a way of her helping a child like one had helped her long ago. So you're the infamous Caleb I've heard so much about.'- The smiling woman informs the now surprised C as he never told her his name before or expected such a high ranking noble to even remember his name. There would be more time for questions later though as he just sits down and takes in the revelations he just received.

* * *

Alternate Universe Snippet: Arcade # 1

During an attack led by Battle Boss Samira, Team RGB, consisting of Sona, Riven, and Sarah, have been desperately trying to barricade the crumbling front entrance to Neeko's shop. The aforementioned lizard girl is currently overseeing her Neexies as they evacuate with her wares and coin. Taking out a cigarette, the merchant queen pulls out her lighter when suddenly a bullet destroys it. Before she can get her spare from her desk, another quake sends some of the roof smashing into it. Giving an exasperated sigh, Neeko tries to scavenge amongst the debris while the three players look at her incredulously.

"Does anyone have a light? Oh thank you Tiny Neeko. By the way did you three get your panties out of a bunch?" The lizard girl says before taking a drag from her cigarette. Around this time as well, the last of the Tiny Neeko Gang escapes via the sewer hatch.

"How can you be so calm?! They're gonna bury us alive at this rate you stupid lizard wizard!" Sarah asks as Team RGB desperately tries to keep a couch against the door. This grows to be nearly impossible as a demonic centipede appears and starts to act like a battering ram.

"Because Neeko knows that this is a survival type of mission. That means that we only have to survive until someone comes to help and since the last of the tiny Neeko's have left, we just have to last a few seconds before it's been ten minutes." As though to prove her point, the sound of a motorcycle approaches the cluster of various soldiers, demons, and machines assaulting the shop. Sitting in her wolfen two looking bored, Samira looks to the source of the noise and sees Team RGB's knight in shiny, red, leathery armor approaching.

"Well, I may be reckless but I'm not stupid." The mercenary notes before leaving hovering mode. As a minion asks her where she is going, the one eyed woman simply responds with "To live." before flying off.

Arriving on the scene, Cero makes his presence known by pulling two assault drones together with the lightning variant of his sanjiegun to create an explosion, "Dope"- Rival Boss Quinn. A large ogre brute with a minigun notices the speeding fiend hunter and charges him. Cero evades his rush though by flipping into the air, and with a cry of "Cavalier Kick!", splits his motorcycle into its chainsaw forms which make quick work of the heavily armored enemy, "Coooool."- Neeko. Soon afterward a demonic knight tries to cut him in half with it's massive axe but Cero easily leaps out of the way. When it's long range allies begin to support it with gunfire, Cero spins midair and fires a charge shot from his trusty pistols into the knight. This ends up sending the knight flying into his allies before exploding in a flash of red, "Bold."- Riven.

With the amount of bullets entering the shop rapidly dropping, the ladies of RGB take a peek at what their op teammate is doing. Suddenly a pile of pizza boxes, sandwich bags, and various other fast foods enter through a hole in the roof like a wanna be loot crate. It takes the group of colorful women a moment to realize it's the lunch Cero went out to get as Neeko starts to scarf down her tacos.

Back outside, a purple Zac is trying to grab the evasive hybrid but is finding little success. Dawning his gauntlets and greaves, Cero begins to unleash a flurry of punches that disintegrate the tendrils before starting to work the main body. Even with it's advanced regeneration, this miniboss stands no chance as it's core is eventually pummeled and destroyed, "Awe inspiring"- Miss Fortune. A floating spectre with scythes for arms then emerges from the street via a portal along with a squadron of gargoyles. When the stone beings try to overwhelm the hero, he wards them off by spinning on the ground as his greeves burst into flames.

"Hahaha I'm on fire! But in all seriousness, I'm getting bored with you guys." The veteran combatant taunts before becoming bathed in his own energy and fire. His body transforms into chitin and scales as he grows several inches, once kind amber eyes ignite before turning into slitted ones filled with hostility, leathery, draconic wings burst from his back before settling against it, and even his clothes harden into stone like armor, 'Spectacular'- Sona.

With a simple wave of his clawed hand, Devil Cero summons his very essence to form a greatsword that carries his name. Casually parrying away their attacks, the half Battle Boss slams down his blade with a wave of red energy that kills most of his enemies, "Smoke Show"- Jinx.

As the explosion fades, the commanding reaper flanks himself with what few fighters but a glint catches his attention. It turns out to be the Cero blade flying towards him along with a matching set of destructive, spectral blades surrounding the speeding weapon. With the ghost blades smashing away any enemies in the main blade's path, it strikes true and embeds into the wraith. In a bit of role reversal, Cero is called to his sword before tearing it out of the enemy commander and bisecting him, "Simply Sensational Styling!"- Morg

"Alrighty then, a triple S and someone got divided by Cero! Heh. So are you girls alright and oh hey I completely forgot about you." Devil Cero remarks as the centipede monstrosity rises up and roars at him. This ancient being fails to intimidate the veteran fighter as he gently touches back down onto the street.

"Traitor!" Is all the beast can shriek at it's better with what little intelligence it possesses. Much to Cero's annoyance, this is yet another enemy that only recognizes him through what his father did. However it also provides him an opportunity, to both further inspire the future Arcade Goddesses and show off.

"I didn't expect to get a Quadruple S today or have to swap forms. Don't worry ladies this will be over quick. Sin Form go!" Cero commands before energy gathers into the Cero blade as he drives it into himself.

"Don't look at it! You guys aren't ready yet! Still so coooool!" Neeko shouts before draping a fallen curtain over the faces of the rest of Team RGB and tackling them down. Glimpsing up, Neeko gazes at what was once Cero as he gives up most of the player and humanity in him to ascend. An inhumane roar is all that heralds the bright flash of light and pillars of flame that reduce all nearby enemies to ashes, "Super Smokin Sexy Style!"- Team RGB and FMC.

* * *

Spotlight featuring: Caleb, The C

BASE STATS:

Health: 574 +91.4117647(91)/Level - 2130

Health Regen: 6.5 +0.73529411(0.7)/level - 19

Armor: 33 +3.70588235(4)/Level - 96

MR: 32 +1.235294(1)/Level - 54

MS: 340

AD: 62 +4/Level - 130

Attack speed: 0.65

Bonus AS: 0 +2.6470588(2.5)%/Level - 45%

Range: 150

Passive: Dark Armor- Caleb's secondary bar consists of a Style Meter which gains 2 points [max 16] for successfully casting and hitting different abilities, empowered autos, as well as Taunts or Jokes. Out of combat, Caleb loses Style points. [1/sec at S tier, 2/sec at Triple S tier]

°At 10 Style points, Caleb reaches S tier, granting him the following benefits:

Levia's armor will envelope Caleb increasing his, Base AD [15+5/Level]

°At 16 Style points Caleb reaches Triple S tier, granting him lowered channel time on W and +3 and Magic resistance.

Betwixt Weaponry- Activating an ability gives a special buff to Caleb's next auto attack. Buffs cannot be stacked and must be used before a new one can be gained.

Q: [12/11.5/11/10.5/10/sec CD]

[80/100/125/155/190+60]

Coercion- Using the fibers of his hood, Caleb fires out two strings that stick to enemies.

First Cast: Caleb fires one strong as a skill shot [60 Dmg] [1100 Range]

Second Cast(only if First Cast hits): Caleb fires string as a point click [40% of Dmg][800 Range]

°Hitting both strings on the same enemies pulls Caleb to them.

°Hitting two different enemies pulls them towards each other.

Betwixt Saw Form- Changing his weapon into a chainsaw, Caleb's next auto attack reduces the armor of the target it hits by a percentage [15/17.5/20/22.5/25% for 4sec].

W: [10/9/8/7/6/sec CD]

[75/115/155/195/235+60]

Pumpkin Slash- Channeling energy into his blade, Caleb unleashes a destructive beam in a line.

It's power and range are increased based off time channelled [max2 seconds, +65Range/0.1sec] and visible nearby enemy champions (Within 1100 Range) add [+5% AD per visible nearby enemy champion].

Channeling the ability roots Caleb.

Betwixt Blade- Caleb flings his sword to an enemy on his next auto[325 Range] and clicking on them again[500 Range] allows him to blink to that enemy into auto range.

E: [15/13/11/9/7]

Spectre Dash- Consuming his body in Pumpkin Energy allows Caleb to temporarily become untargetable during a brief dash to a nearby location [500 Range]. Activating Spectre dash grants 2 Style Points.

Betwixt Crossbows- Caleb splits his weapon into its contradicting natures [475 Range] before channeling a destructive orb to deal damage [AADmg+110 on target | AA Dmg+75 on the splash] in an area around the auto attacks target [250 Diameter] on his next auto.

Consecutive Auto attacks can hit up to two separate targets at the cost of halved damage and slightly reduced movement [-15 MS] until Caleb gains another Betwixt Weaponry bonus.

R: [100/80/60]

Pumpkin Overdrive!- Caleb prepares to end the fight by enhancing his attacks for a duration. Swapping to a pair of gauntlets and boots, enemies hit by Caleb's autos and abilities are marked for Doom and do no benefit from revival effects, invulnerabilities, or death prevention effects.

Additionally, Market targets suffer damage [10/17.5/25+30] whenever Caleb hits them with an attack on them.

Betwixt Beatdown- Caleb's next auto channels a flurry of attacks consisting of 6 auto attacks with halved damage.

While damaging his target he also deals damage [20% of Auto attack Dmg] to enemies in a block behind the primary target. If the primary target is below 20% HP they are also stunned for the duration of the attack.

"When I use weapons I'm trying to scare everyone around me but the second I put on these gloves get out of my way."- C

* * *

Author's note- Pfft well uh hello everyone and sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Not having real wifi, suffering severe writer's blockage, lack of time, and general lack of motivation to do so have made me a very rusty writer and unresponsive poster but I have decided to try and get back into the swing of this.

I can say that I don't know if I will go back to my older stories besides maybe Constants and Variables because I was curious if I could do with a rebooted timeline without the Institute and wanted to get back into things with this sort of test chapter.

I will however keep at least some of the older stories up still as a means of reference if anyone wants to check them out but they are shoddy to say the least as I want to try improving my writing. To anyone who chose to follow those older stories I am sorry for not moving onto the third story. So yeah I wanna try a new approach to this saga and hope you all enjoyed it. I at least felt I just had to post something because it was eating at me.

Feel free to PM me if you have any request on Alternate Worlds you'd like to see and no it doesn't have to be a skin line. I do believe that old romance options poll is still on my account so if you click on my name feel free to vote in it as I do appreciate any interactions with people willing to read my stories. But in general Private Message me if you have any request as seeing a message in my inbox brighten my day. I hope you all have a lovely day and thank you for reading.


	2. REleased

A/N Welcome back to the story every or if you're new thank you for coming. I do as always hope that you enjoy the chapter and know that all support is appreciated.

Cast includes: Caleb, The Hood, Levia, Riven, The Kontes, and Cathy

After making a quick breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon for his gracious hostess and himself, Caleb makes his way quickly off the grounds of the Buvelle estate. By the time the servants arrive at sunrise there is no trace that anyone else besides Sona was ever at the house. Around this time Levia and the Hood tell Caleb of a development. It turns out due to the wild nature of the bandle woods is making teleportation difficult. The only areas available at the moment are Demacia, Noxus, but luckily for Caleb's current plan, Ionia.

As two snowy winds going in opposite directions pass each other C emerges from between them. He finds himself outside of a tavern in the mountainous north of the island nation. It is a simple place but one that is still a welcoming sight for anyone traveling these roads. A fire is kept going in one corner of the inn to help ward off the snow storm outside. Meanwhile on the opposite side of the room past the bar the daughter of the couple who owns the place sits. Here she plays on her erhu for the few midday patrons having a meal. Caleb recognizes the song is about a man following a beautiful spirit into a snow storm to never return.

"You know I'm pretty sure that song is supposed to be a more mellow tune."- The hooded stranger says as he sits down at the bar. It doesn't take long before the mother of the musician approaches him to take his order.

"The girl is a hopeless romantic. This boy came in here a bit back and talked about how he broke up with a girl. They came from opposing clans or something. Suppose she hopes they find their way. So traveler what is it you would like?"- The woman ask before pulling out a notepad. As she pours a cup of ale and heads back with Caleb's order, which is tsukune and rice balls, the door is slammed open.

It would seem five of your typical thugs have marched into the place with cheap weapons consisting of aged swords and rusty hammers. Before the girl in the back can shout at them to leave one of the thugs has already taken a seat, to the face that is.

"Who the hell are you?!"- Presumably the leader of this group of bandits demands before making the mistake of pointing his blade at C. It doesn't take long before the weapon is yanked from his grasp by a Coercion line.

"I'm just a guy who wanted to eat a nice meal and maybe find out where some of his friends went. But for you I'm the person about to ruin your evening and possibly your life."- C states before rising up and cracking his knuckles. In a strange turn of events the thugs actually drop their weapons and leave just as C gets ready to fight. A moment later, one of them also return to retrieve their forgotten unconscious friend.

"Oh well that's actually a pleasant change of events. I guess they realized what they wanted wasn't worth it if it meant going through me. Huh neat."- As Caleb returns to his seat the older couple burst into the main area . After the teenage girl explains what happened the owners of this fine establishment give Caleb free lodging along with his meals being on the house.

'Hmm It would seem this is why Aki was able to stay around here so long. He must have handled the more unruly "guest" and this is how they thanked him.'- Levia pieces together as her host enjoys a kebab of meatballs. By the time night arrives the pair go to their room after waiting all day for their friend. The duo figure that their former shadow fighter must be either at a different bar, fighting shadow ninjas, or worse case, might not even exist anymore.

That night Caleb experiences a dream that only serves to exacerbate the theory of his friends and allies not existing anymore. In a desolate town, located in the depths of Hell, the Hooded of the past were relaxing together. Suddenly a strong rumbling disturbs the area and immediately makes all of the heroes go onto high alert. After determining the interference was temporal based they notice something strange happening. A member of their makeshift clan ,known as Knight, has started to writhe on the ground in agony. At first the group fears her old Void mutation is acting up again but she suddenly turns back into her human form. All of the brunette's corruption then leaves her body and she rises without issue. A quick magical scan confirms she is no longer bound by the Void's influence. However before they could celebrate or speculate on what happened a new terrible event occur. The second oldest hooded, known as King, falls to his knees before fading away into dust. By the time this crisis ceases only ten of the twenty Hooded remain. The last thing Caleb sees before he awakens is all of his remaining predecessors fleeing towards their colorful mage Eccentric.

"Thanks for the coffee. I need it after a bad dream last night. So about that young man who passed through here did he say his name or maybe where he was heading?"- The latest hooded ask before taking a sip of his brew.

"I'm afraid not. He just ordered a glass of water and left as quickly as he came. Maybe he's looking for you too young man. Wouldn't be the first person coming through here asking if we saw someone they used to know since that damn war started. My Deshi and dear Kayo even help me try to remember all the different faces that pass through here. So many desperate faces trying to hold onto something probably gone but they keep going still."- The humble barkeep answers before seeming to go down a dark memory. She is quick to snap out of it though to get Caleb's plate when he finishes.

"Before I go though have you heard anything about a woman with a large sword wandering these lands? Dark amber eyes that look like rust or pale hair on her head. Maybe even a rumor of a noxian deserter?"- Caleb inquires as he decides to at least try to get the trail of someone he knows is still around.

Several hours later we find Caleb is dragging a chest of gold and jewels. After leaving he was caught in a blizzard and survived hugging a spirit child by holding his blade with his teeth. Realizing that it's going to take a while to reach Riven's location on foot the Hooded is about to teleport before a thought crosses his mind.

"Hey Levia why don't we call Dullahan's old war horse, Ulemko? I mean we know he's friendly to me."- Caleb suggest before taking a seat on the heavy tribue.

'Oh so you wanna look like a Nazgul when you go to see her. I mean nothing says "Hey come join my side." like riding in on a demonic horse.'- Levia scolds her host before teleporting him and the treasure when an opening appears.

Riven meanwhile has just finished plowing a row of dirt when the plow blade snaps and the ox screams. Worried the animal was hurt in the accident she quickly gazes down to check it's legs and fails to notice that the midday sun has sent a beam between the farm animal's horns. It wasn't the broken tool that had startled the oxen but rather the fact a hooded figure had manifested in front of it. The new shadow appearing over Riven startles the former soldier into grabbing the blade and attempt to hold it to her target's throat. A greatsword knocks away the makeshift weapon into a nearby tree before dematerializing as quickly as it appeared.

"Hello Riven. I see you've managed to carve out a life for yourself. But uhh it looks like your crop row is a little jagged."- The demacian country boy remarks while taking in the fairly remote farm. From the nearby house an old couple start to emerge as they feel like an event that happened before is repeating itself.

"Emai! Fair! Stay back! This one is dangerous and not normal!"- The pale haired woman shouts back to her family before turning to scowl at the mysterious attacker.

"Father and mother huh. Well then I guess you don't need to stay at my place this time around but I'd still like you to hear me out. Oh Hello! I'm just here to chat with your girl!"- Caleb yells after he stops looking around and notices the pair on the porch. He reaches a hand out to help his old friend up but is ignored instead.

It takes a couple of minutes before the two veterans manage to reattach the blade. The old man, Asa, decides that they can take a break for lunch and cautiously returns inside to help his wife prepare the meal. Dragging the plow a bit to see if the blade is stable Caleb begins to notice something that happened to him recently repeat itself.

'Alright Caleb now just tell her that you need her to go with you. You need to tell Riven that you need her around. Wait why am I talking in my head… oh shit.'- As Caleb returns to one of his more out of body experiences.

"Sooo Riven I have a proposal for you. You get your sword and I grab mine. Then we go out and kill a bunch of nasty stuff. Sound good to you captain?"- Caleb's body says the plan it's currently screaming mind came up with.

"Who the hell are you that you'd think you have the right to call me captain?! Also in case you didn't notice, I'm not a warrior anymore, I'm a farmer now."- Riven confirms before using her anger to fuel her farm work. A chest of gold and jewels is slammed down next to her before leaking it's contents all over the field.

"Here you can have all this treasure. But first you have to promise me something. I want you and need you to join me when the time comes. Last time I started this you were the first person I sought out to help me with this whole saving the world stuff."- C states in a tone to match the former noxian to show her he is serious.

"You never did tell me how is it you know me. So again, who are you?"- The Exile ask before stopping her work and pulling out some grass to feed her tired oxen.

"Well for starters a part of me comes from another timeline. In that timeline you help me and the army that answers my call in trying to save this world. We failed then but we've gotten another chance. Before you walk away I've seen the world if we do nothing. Undead run rampant with souls trapped to this world. Alien creatures from another reality run amok while only being held back by wild arcane energy on the southern continent. In the north though they spread only cold and death. Stars blink out of existence in the sky as it turns as black as the unforgiving sea which swallows islands whole. My homeland in ruins after it consumes itself in war and your new homeland of Ionia, twisted into a lifeless shell of it's former glory. I see visions of these things whenever I don't keep my mind in the now. In the place I can change them. But to answer world your question you knew me as Dullahan."- C answers after returning from a dark memory. It's enough of a brutal experience he stumbles a little after telling the future. One that he and so many others are trying to stop.

"Oh gods you really are him aren't you? No one but my company learned of his existence. No… that would mean you came here to kill me, didn't you?! It's either that or what you said about the future is real but that's too terrible."- The swordmaster realizes as she starts to turn pale upon realizing her two dark fates. However only one of them is true if it isn't stopped.

"It's why I need people like you to help me stop these problems before they can become reality. So will you go with me and save the world?"- The hooded assures his friend before putting out his hand for her to take. Internally Caleb thanks the Hood for temporarily taking over for him since he seemed to be struggling at talking.

'So do you think he's got a chance?'- Levia asks the Hood while eating a bucket of fried chicken she found in Caleb's memories. It gives him a solid chance if he doesn't say something stupid.

"I would Dullahan but I can't take that offer. I'm needed here and I don't think you'd want me to help you with that mission. I can't fight anymore."- The ionian tells him before gently pushing his hand away. However he holds onto her arm before blinking the two of them away.

In the nearby Courel Valley a pair of butterflies gracefully circle each other before landing on a lone flower at the top of the path. From there Caleb and Riven appear to overlook the muddy path that acts as an opening between the two cliffs. Before Caleb can go on a tirade scolding Riven for her current mindset they both hear a gurgling scream from down the route. An extremely pale lump of flesh is smashing a person to death before the screaming dies out. This dark being starts to shudder violently before splitting down the front of it's body to reveal a mass of vein like tentacles and enlarged ribs acting as teeth. Eager to get out of there before the spirit can finish feasting on it's meal whole, the two former champions begin to cautiously back away. This plan fails when a hole swallows Riven's foot and the ashes coating the inside of it alert the creature. With the corrupted being charging them, Riven being stuck in the hole, and no teleportation available Caleb has no choice but to release a hideous wail.

"Chh chh chh."- Is the sound heard that confirms their ride has arrived as from the hole trapping Riven emerges a horse. Before the corrupted being can jump onto it's next meal, Ulemko, has already flipped Riven onto it's back where Caleb joins her.

The steed of the Dullahan who once haunted this land had heard Caleb's roar and knew to await it's call to service. This deep and rich brown horse immediately shows it's demented nature with sharpened teeth constantly revealed by nonexistent lips, crimson glowing eyes and a mane of smoke.

Despite it running as fast as it can Ulemko can't shake off the pursuing spirit, which has turned into an undulating mass of onyx death. Leaving the valley our escapees quickly find themselves heading down a rocky ridge. Ahead of them is a river and treeline that act as a border for the village they had left.

"Dullahan we can't lead this thing back to the village. Ulemko please don't head to the treeline."- Riven pleads to both of her former allies. She couldn't imagine leading a monstrosity such as this flesh thing to her new home.

"On it! Betwixt Crossbows! Ugh this thing smells as bad as a dead body."- C taunts the creature as he starts to pepper it with bolt fire. While this slows it down, the mass simply keeps on crashing forward before swinging out a hand to trip Ulemko. In it's success the mystical steed and duo are sent ragdolling down the last bit of downhill stretch. Several local fishermen notice this and rush off back to the village to tell what's happening.

"Ulemko! Get them back safely! Tomori tell Asa to give my sword to the horse!"- Riven gives into her old commanding self as she tries to ensure everyone gets out alive. As she struggles to get up she notices Dullahan has disappeared.

Seeing more meat trying to escape the former nuppeppo tries to give chase but finds itself bound to the ground. When it tries to tear the tendril off and fails the eldritch monstrosity roars in frustration only to have another tendril seal it's mouth shut.

"You hit my god damn horse. You sent me and my lady friend crashing down a hill. I'm going to enjoy kicking you to death!"- A now angered C shouts as he rises from beneath the ground. The Hooded exemplifies this point by revving his Betwixt Saw before lunging forward at the beast.

Not one to be intimidated by the loud snack before it the mutant tears off the chunk of flesh sticking it to the ground. As the beast swings at him Riven rushes across the river to try and catch the demonic steed on the way back. Despite knowing the horrible acts committed by the Dullahan during the war the former commander can't help but hope he survives.

Even using his Spectral Dash and Coercion lines to maneuver around the spirit Caleb finds himself on the defensive. It would seem that a downside of fighting a creature that lacks a solid form is it can twist it's body to always keep an angle on C. To make matters worse, no matter how many of it's slams result in it losing a limb the monster simply grows more. Deciding it's time for something flashy the hooded warrior flings his saw at the top of the creature's head. As the weapon is flying mid air a pair of Coercion lines attached to it. They drag C away from another attack that would have crushed him. When the projectile lodges itself in the head of the corrupted being it's wielder is right there with it. The hooded warrior then uses the attached lines like reins to kick the blade even further in. In a fit of agony the abomination flails around before Caleb is forced off it but he takes something important with him.

'What the hell is this? It looks like a weird worm.'- Caleb notes as he inspects the writhing mass impaled on his saw.

'It looks like a Varus blight parasite. But I know the Saint destroyed the last of the infected all those years ago. Caleb burn it!'- The voice of the Hood demands of it's host after seeing what looks like an old problem return.

After channeling some Pumpkin Energy into the blade the dark spawn turns to ash. This does not sit well with it's puppet at the creature starts to melt. Before C can rush down the beast however it takes the fighter by surprise. By adapting to it's new condition, the monster hurls some of it's ash covered goop. This lands on the hooded and hits hard enough to stop him in his tracks. Quickly closing the gap onto the enemy, but lacking a maw to eat it's meal, the abomination picks Caleb up to crush him. Starting to feel his bones crushed Caleb tries to desperately claw himself away. Any attempt to go spectral fails as he has the wind constantly taken out of him. New air is unable to reach him since a parasite has maneuvered near his mouth and is only kept out when an emergency mask formed.

"Get off him!"- Are the words that snap C from the brink of unconsciousness as Riven has appeared. Seeing the monster distracted she has leaped onto it's back to stab it with her reformed Runic Blade.

Before it can retaliate both swordmasters dash away to make some space from the aberration. After briefly summoning the Dark Armor to snap his bones into place the duo simply share a look. They then split up to flank the creature from both sides which slows down it's attacks to almost a crawl. At the same time that Riven flips through the air she slices off the spirit's right arm at the shoulder, Caleb takes on the Betwixt Gauntlets and channels Pumpkin Energy to punch up it's left arm. The infested being starts to feel more pain as another of the parasites is destroyed and it's regeneration starts to slow. Another wail summons Ulemko who slams into the back of the mess of flesh. Even in such a weakened state it takes the force of the slam and Riven and C slashing it's legs with their respective swords to trip it. With their foe lacking in limbs the two warriors start to finish it off. Riven unleashes a devastating Wind Slash that bisects the blob horizontally as Caleb slams down with a Pumpkin Slash. Lacking any more parasites to keep it going and being too badly damaged, the remains of the nuppeppo melts away into a pile of ash and bile.

'Hood now that the fight is over do you have any thoughts on what the hell was this thing?'- Caleb asked as he uses a beam to burn away the area that the spirit died.

'It could have been one of Varus' creations but thinking on it he wasn't able to infect any spirits. It can't have been Dullahan's work though as his powers revolved around absorbing, destroying, or corrupting the land. Sure he could harm spirits but he didn't turn them into monsters. I fear someone may have learned only from the evil parts of history to make something new. But who though?'- Inquires the Hood before it becomes trapped in thought as several villagers including the elders arrive.

"Fair I'm okay, seriously. We killed the monster."- Riven says smiling as the Konte couple rush to her and her mother sees if she is injured. It doesn't take long for the old woman's relief to turn to rage at The Hooded.

"You idiot! Who are you?! You come out of nowhere and the next thing we know you disappear with our dyeda! Then it doesn't take long before we find Tomori at our door asking for her sword with a fucking demon horse outside!"- Shava screeches at her daughter's kidnapper while being held back by her husband and said daughter.

"Mama I'm fine. You can calm down he just wanted my help with something. Right Dullahan?" The former noxian say ask her blade fall apart again. Before he can answer a squadron guards armed with spears and crossbows are surrounding the hooded.

"That's true ma'am. I wanted your daughter's help with some things and I even brought a chest of riches to pay her for her services. As you all can see a spirit was corrupted and I needed some help defeating it."- Caleb answers while calmly grabbing the tip of a spear pointed at him. The guards however are still paranoid of the outsider and several of them ready their crossbows.

Before any violence can break out the village elders, lead by a stern looking woman, call off the guards. Realizing he was still holding his blade Caleb disperses it as a show of good faith and gives a bow of respect to the leaders of the town.

Outside of the very building that housed her trial what feels like ages ago, we find Riven sitting by the main doors. She is anxiously waiting for her well even she doesn't know. She takes it as a good sign that she hasn't heard any violence from within the building. The farm girl is snapped out of her trance when a firm hand is put on her shoulder.

"Calm down Riven. The elders aren't going to execute the boy. They just wanted to ask what happened. Oh, I almost forgot."- Asa assures his daughter as he pulls out a box which contains her lunch. As she starts to eat a rice ball wrapped in fried eggplant, the old man grunts as he sits next to her.

"You know I think I figured out why I want to be around him. It's partly guilt because I didn't help him when he was enslaved. Not to mention he's the only person from my old life I actually give a crap about any more. Doesn't help we saved each other multiple times during the war. But then a part of it is something weird or crazy always happened whenever he was around. I was excited and I almost said yes when he asked me to go with him. I suppose that makes me ack..."- Riven starts to choke after speaking too quickly and from shock when the doors open.

"Oh shit Riven hang on."- Caleb remarks before entering his spectral form and reaching into her throat. A second later he is tossing away a lump of mush and wiping his hand off while Riven catches her breath.

"Thanks. Dullahan what happened in there?"- Are the first things out of Riven's mouth as she spits some grains of rice. Asa starts to rub her back before they help each other up.

"Riven, I'm not Dullahan. In fact you can call me either by my business name of C or my real name of Caleb. But don't go telling the latter option you two. As for what happened can we wait until we're back at the farm?"- Caleb ask before clutching his ribs and falling to a knee. As the Konte family help him up they notice a pair of guards walk up to them.

"We were instructed to follow you to your home elder Asa and collect the treasure C had offered to the council."- Says the older of the two men before both are startled by Ulemko appearing near them. The demonic steed walks past them before lifting Caleb onto it's back.

A small passing of time later we find Caleb sitting with the Konte family. As the older guard struggles to put the heavy chest onto Ulemko's back the other walks up to the window. When Caleb opens it the younger guard hands him a letter before running back to help his commander.

"What is that?"- Ask Riven which finally breaks the awkward silence in the room. Not long after he's read the message does Caleb take down his glamour.

"Well my dear Riven this letter says that your debt has been paid. At least to the people of this village."- Caleb plainly states before passing over the letter with a smile. It is quickly snatched up by the family who can't believe what he just said.

The letter firstly states that Caleb is absolved of his war debt due to him not being in control of his actions. It also thanks him for providing monetary tribute to the town and for stopping the corrupted spirit. Secondly it states that Riven is to be absolved of her previous crimes against Ionia and the manslaughter of Elder Souma. However it states that this is to be done under the condition she help C.

"I told them what I told you. Riven I need your help but I don't want to force you to leave this place. I'll give you some time to think about it and I'm sorry for today."- Is all Caleb can say before getting up from the table. After a slightly painful stretch he simply walks outside and takes a deep breath.

"Caleb wait! Why do you want me of all people to help you? I'm sure you could get better fighters and I've done terrible things."- But before Riven can fall down a dark path her parents give her a hug that brings her back.

"True I could find people stronger than you but I like working with you. Apparently the multiverse does too since we usually wind up on the same team. Plus the fact you regret doing those bad things shows you can do good. Later."- Caleb nonchalantly says before teleporting away with a mock salute.

By a coastal beach of Ionia is a river that feeds out into the ocean. Amidst the fair weather a waterspout has formed where the two bodies of water meet. From there Caleb emerges as well and Coercion lines his way onto land. As the Hooded sits down on the sand he notices a pair of black orbs pop out of the water. It doesn't take long before more orbs, which C is quick to realize are eyes, appear. The now horde of eyes starts to move close to land but stop when the Betwixt Blade appears. One of the group is brave enough however to venture onto land and get a closer look.

He is almost seven feet tall with mandibles spreading from his cheeks to form a mock smile over his mouth. The makara vastaya has a blue chitin exterior all over his skin except for the grayish inner shell. Other crustacean features include the bubbles frothing from his mouth, the eye stalks receding into his head, and the hulking pair of pincer arms above his humanoid ones. A pair of scavenged trousers and torn cloth pieces adorn his body but acting as a necklace is a human skull.

"Are you the one know as C who challenges the evils of this world?"- The crab person manages to ask amidst his frothing.

"Yeah. Now who's asking before I get some butter?"- A paranoid Caleb jokes while hoping to break the tension. He notices some of the other vastaya have started to poke their "smiling" faces out of the water.

"Ahahaha! Well then young hooded know that our clans have long awaited your arrival. One of your kind with red eyes covering amber ones and a sword of both purity and corruption."- The crustacean excitedly blurts out before putting his hands together to bow.

"You don't need to bow to me. Now tell me why is it you all have waited so long for?"- Caleb ask before putting away his blade.

"Our ancestor, the hero Manoko Sha, served one of your predecessors. While no doubt the lizards may have forgotten their pact to serve your cause we have not."- The vastaya answers as his fellow people begin to snap their pincers like a mock applause.

"Manoko Sha… oh right one of the Saint's friends. Well I could see why you'd want to help but why the lizards?" C ask after hearing the news of a potential army of allies. He gets up and walks toward the middle of the crowd.

"Ah of course you've not heard of the Pact of the Storm since it was made after the Saint asked this task of us. Apparently the lizards wanted to make a similar one when their king, Zhong Hadun, had a vision during a storm. Do they worry you?" The chittering crab man nervously ask before rejoining his kin. Internally though he was proud of himself and his study of the common tongue that many of his kind lacked.

"No, they don't. As for all of you, I want to thank all of you for volunteering to do this task. When the time comes I will call upon you. Until then try to learn as much common as possible and steel yourselves for the trials ahead." With that C blinks away again as the Makara delve back into the ocean depths.

As a spider finishes it's first web C finds himself in an old library hidden near Noxus. In this tomb of knowledge where Black Rose agents until recently stored documents, Caleb begins to pour over tomes and scrolls of Runeterra's history. Here he decides to brush up on history as his Hood decides to do the same. All done to help with the future he and now others are trying to work towards.

Sleipnir Story #1

When Caleb roses from the ocean and unleashed a terrifying roar several individuals of importance noticed. They are Metto the Wind Shepherd, Aki the Shadow Wyrm, D. A. H. N. the Twisted Amalgamation, and Catherine the Cyber Pilot. In their previous lives they served C with such undying loyalty that their memories were preserved by both the Confederate's ally in the dark. Around the time each of them was supposed to experience the moments that changed their lives a series of visions overcame them. Recalling how events occurred before the first three changed their personal histories. Metto chose to take refuge in a willing host rather than creating her own form. Aki turned on the Order of Shadows before he was sent to a Kinkou hideout to slaughter it's inhabitants. DAHN explained the fate of his family to them and performed their transformations willingly.

The last one, Cathy, is a bit of an odd case amongst the rest of Sleipnir Squad in this regard. Rather than improve upon the crux of fate in her life she was never born to begin with. However, her soul had managed to survive being a paradox due to it being in the process of dying when time changed. It was also strong enough to survive being cast off to a whole other timeline where by a miracle it found it's way into an advanced computer. After the Programs construct a body that the anomaly attuned with, they inquired Catherine about her past. By the time she has finished answering all the curious machines questions the universe was already reforming. Volunteering for the new Project Pulsefire, Cathy has successfully returned to her home of Piltover with a new body.

In an alleyway in the City of Progress at night a pair of blue rings appear vertically from each other.. Energy crackles between the pair of portals before they start to form a bubble that illuminates the dark back alley. A being starts to manifest from the opening in space time and when all is calm again is left in a kneeling position. The female form's green human eyes open and adjust to her familiar yet alien surroundings. With her first objective of returning to her world completed Cathy moves onto her second goal. To do this however she needs to be able to move around more quickly and decides to enter a nearby pub. Outside of this establishment are vehicles lined up from speedy monocycles to full blown carriages. In this building Piltover's elite airship pilots converge to drink and have a good time. A clockwork, automated band plays a quick pace tune in the back as rich cigar smoke fills most of the air. The zaunite bartender dutifully fulfills orders behind the bar and even has gotten his arms augmented to help run the place. Some chaps are playing billiards, having a laugh, and having a drink. Others are simply there for the stories of dangerous flying that some bring. The mood changes when a medium sized figure wrapped in a dirty cloth enters. After looking around it approaches one of the women engineers in her work jumpsuit.

"You'll do. Now listen I want your clothes, your boots, and your monocycle." The stranger asked in a robot, authoritative tone that reeks of an upper class accent. Her piercing green eyes are almost intimidating enough to make the slightly larger brunette woman obey without thinking.

"Beth you gonna take that from this cunt?" A blonde in a pilot's jacket and several other crew member approach to back up their coworker. Some of them are armed with pool cues, knives, and their captain even has her trusty revolver out.

Captain Alexandra pistol whips the cloaked stranger in the head which makes the woman crumple to the ground. To everyone's horror Catherine's head rolls out away from her body revealing a woman with human eyes, ivory synthetic skin, and gold and black mesh forming a pull through ponytail. As the crew started to panic that they accidentally killed someone a dismembered left arm crawls out of Cathy's covering. This armored yet graceful appendage propels itself at the Captain before grasping her shooting hand so hard it becomes broken. One of the men tries to smash his cue over the decapitated head. His efforts are made in vain when a flash from it's eyes projects a shield over the area. Using one arm the main body gets back up before kicking the co pilot who tried to cave in it's head through a table. With the tarp removed everyone bears witness to technology from the future. A feminine body covered in an ivory shell for flesh and breaks revealing the black faux muscle beneath has risen. As with all her limbs various plates of cobalt colored, stainless steel armor coat her body with a sea green orb in the middle of her chest acting as a source of power. One blast of energy from her right palm is enough to send another engineer flying through a window. It doesn't take long before the left arm flys Alexandra behind the bar. Each disconnected body part then produces a blue force field around them that shoves away anyone who gets too close.

With her body pinned beneath one of these orbs and her crew fleeing the scene, blue orbs open wide in panic. Her assailant's body has walked it's way towards her. Seeing as all potential enemies have fled, Cathy orders her body to reconfigure it's parts which fly back to their original places. The woman on the ground fumbles to cock her revolver with her unbroken hand but has it snatched away.

"You know to be honest I think your clothes would fit me better." A now smirking Cathy says as she casually cocks the hextech weapon.

Several minutes later as sirens began to sound off in the distance our cybernetic friend emerges from the bar dressed in her new attire. It consists of a brown bomber jacket with a fur collar, a gray shirt, and black overalls with the straps hanging while tucked into a pair of combat boots.

Finding her newly acquired monocycle and starting it Cathy is stopped when a gunshot rings out behind her. Standing there is the bar keep with a chemtech shotgun pointing at her. It is a simple weapon with a small chemtech core near the trigger.

"I can't let you leave here with that woman's cycle too. Now get off it before I have to put you down." The middle aged man demands as he uses the gun's lever to reload.

He isn't prepared for when she gets off the vehicle and a series of spines erupt from her back. These and the boosters in Cathy's feet propel her towards the man who is unable to get a shot off before his weapon is taken. As the man starts to step back with his arms raised in surrender Catherine completes her outfit by taking the aviator's off the man's head. The Cyber Pilot is already speeding off before the first wardens can arrive. While she drives off her body has already repaired her newly assimilated clothes.

Making her way to the docks the time traveler has managed to find one that is emptied out to hide in. Taking out the power core in her chest Cathy aims her arm laser at it and begins to channel a beam into it. A signal is sent across space and time to project a time sphere to this location. From the sphere emerges a pet project of Catherine's own design. It takes the form of a tilt rotor style aircraft with a ring on each wing serving as the engines and a laser nose gun. It serves as either a machine gun or can charge up to deliver a stronger blast. With her new body and a futuristic version of her old Roc in her possession, she can't help but smile.

Spotlight featuring: Catherine, The Cyber Pilot

Passive: Autonomous Augments- All of Catherine's basic abilities are vector cast from locations near her similar to Viktor's E.

Defensive Grid- Whenever Catherine uses a basic ability it leaves behind a corresponding body part. This body part projects a bubble around it that knocks back and damages enemies that try to pass through it's location. Individual units have a cooldown for each bubble before they can be hit again. Enemies can destroy the bubble with enough damage to put a limb on cool down. Catherine can also step over them to retrieve the limb for some cool down reduction.

Q- Give Em a Hand: Cathy launches out her left arm in a straight line. It passes through minions and minor monsters but it's missile speed is slowed in doing so. Upon making contact with anything other unit it Disarms the first before erecting a Defensive Grid.

W- Shield Projector: Cathy's head detaches to project a shield onto allies in an area. Defensive Grids in the area are also gain back some of their health.

E- Concussive Cannon: Cathy's right arm channels a beam from it's location. Enemies hit by the beam gain stacks of Concussive Force. When they reach 3 stacks of it they are shoved to the edge of the beam. This counts as a dash for the purpose of Defensive Grid.

R- The Future is Now!: Spines erupt from Catherine's back and electricity connects her to all Defensive Grid. She then dashes to a location and can't be cc'd during the process. Enemies in the path of deployed Defensive Grids are dragged to her location. All basic abilities have a flat amount of cooldowns refunded upon arrival.

"I could have stayed in that future world and flown away from my problems. But for the boss I'd travel across time to help him make a good future here."- Catherine


	3. REnewed

A/N Welcome welcome everybody! I do hope you enjoy this chapter and are having a good holiday season. Please feel free to make request for these stories as it's a huge motivator.

Cast includes: Main story Caleb, Levia, Nidalee, and "San" Gwen with Caitlyn and Camille cameos. Primordial AU: Dawnbringer Riven, Dawnbringer Nidalee, God King Garen, Dawnbringer Karma, Justicar Syndra, Angel of Death Karthus, Archangel Jax, Warrior of Dawn Pantheon, Arclight Brand and Arclight Yorick plus Nightbringer Yasuo, Nightbringer Lee Sin, Nightbringer Vladimir, God King Darius, Infernal Nasus, Demon Vi, Fallen Caleb, Jester of Chaos Zoe, Infernal Rakan, and Demon Sett with cameos from Angelic Artillery Quin and Caitlyn and Infernal Shen, Infernal Galio, and Infernal Varus.

Over a week has passed since Caleb entered the abandoned Black Rose archive. When he emerges his face is painted with exhaustion along pain. A severe lack of eating over the last week and his injuries sustained in Ionia are to blame. He starts walking away from the entrance before checking to see it disappear behind him. As the Hooded moves again a series of stabbing pains forces him to stop. The Hood parts to reveal Caleb's ribs and back are coated in black and blue bruises. Seeing him in such terrible condition, Levia teleports her host to the best place to heal his injuries.

Inside of a pit and hidden southwest of Noxus Prime, is a set of steps leading to a pair of mahogany doors. Caleb frantically knocks on the door until it opens to reveal the maid of the house. Her name is Annabelle and she is a red furred yordle with thin rim glasses in a Victorian style outfit, she is also a pink glowing ghost. She is shocked to see a new guest after over a decade, let alone an injured one. After helping the young man into the manor, she then carefully lays him down on a nearby couch. Seeing him struggling to breath the she yordle sinks into the ground to awaken her master.

"Lady Gwen it appears that a new patient has arrived. He is also wearing the Hood and is clinging to consciousness." Are the words that Annabelle whispers to a vertical casket in the basement. It doesn't take long before the diamond container starts to shake and she takes a step back.

Knowing what comes next the yordle leaves for a bit before returning with a clean bath robe, several rags, and a bucket of clean water. The lid opens as a small flood of blood leaves before an old woman emerges. Her blood soaked body quickly starts to lose any signs of age before the yordle starts to clean her. When Annabelle is finished a woman with red hair that is streaked with blonde stripes and an elfin build puts on the robe readied for her. As Gwen is walking up the steps her hazel eyes spot an unopened bottle of wine at the top of the steps. By the time she walks across the east wing to the western living room the bottle of Uwendale 972 AN is emptied.

"Well well well. It has been a while since anyone has graced me with a visit, let alone a Hooded. So what's the damage young man?" Is what the hemomancer ask before sitting next to the broken man. It is more of an act of procedure than anything since she is able to see his body's injuries via a special magical sight.

"Hello "San" Gwen. How is the wine this year? As for myself I got a nasty bear hug and it really messed me up." Caleb states before wincing and having to be held down by Gwen. It turns out that if he were to sit up too quickly a rib would risk puncturing his right lung.

"Annabelle please bring me my claws. Now I need to warn you since this is your first time here that I will be reaching into you. Do you consent to this?" Gwen asked as part of procedure again before the yordle arrives with a pair of gloves. Each nail is covered in a metal claw which release an extremely thin coil when put on.

"As with the Hooded before me yes I trust you to do this." Caleb is able to choke out before he starts to cough violently. From there Gwen puts her hands onto his chest before they start to glow red and sink into his body. It takes several minutes before the hemomancer repairs all of Caleb's injuries. To celebrate another job well done said hemomancer ask Annabelle to bring her a surprise wine.

"Ooo a 492 AN Zaunite. Ah that was a good year. Got laid a lot and as usual thank you Eccentric for blessing my cellars. Otherwise I would have gotten some nasty stomach aches by now." A smiling Gwen says before popping open the bottle and starting to chug the brew. Caleb starts to wonder if maybe Gwen, or Eccentric herself, magically blessed the cherry blonde's liver as well.

"By the way, Gwen I was also hoping to get back the portable manor from you. I know that you have it since well, Nita died." Caleb manages to inquire before the hemomancer finishes her drink. As he starts to sit up Annabelle gives him a glass of water and Gwen a Blessed Isles 45 BN.

"The what… oh right. Annabelle dear where do we keep the manor again?" Gwen asks her trusty servant who takes her special claws away. When the yordle returns she is carrying a key with a crescent on the end of it.

"We keep it in cellar C ma'am." The yordle as usual reminds her ladyship before bracing for an old and terrible word play. Our pink glowing specter is quick to then leave the room by phasing through a nearby golden cabinet.

"Oh right! Because it's the manor for C we keep it in cellar C." The ancient woman tells herself before getting up chuckling. She puts her half finished bottle down and leads the young man to the purposefully gaudy piece.

Without any effort the hemomancer pushes her cabinet filled with two hundred year old priceless ionian porcelain. When Gwen is done she uses her key to open a hidden door that reveals a spiral stairwell. On the way down orbs of blue light slowly fill the pathway deeper into the pit. When they reach the bottom of the staircase the entire room is illuminated in brilliant light before fading. It reveals a standard wine cellar filled to the brim with casks and bottles lining the walls but these only form a pathway. At the end of it is a field of cash crops ranging from tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, and marijuana. After tearing out a cannabis plant from the enchanted field Gwen finds a small box.

"Here you go. Please do take care of this place and please make it so I don't get it back too soon. Also maybe throw a party once in a while since the last few of you have been so serious." A cheeky Gwen ask of the newest in the Hooded line. With a nod he takes the box before putting it away in his pockets.

"Thank you Gwen. Oh and when the time comes will you be joining my coalition that I'm gonna be making?" The smiling Caleb ask before he materializes a Navori 992 AN as an offering. Gwen's face quickly lights up even more before she takes the bottle and opens it.

"You know hemomancy is often looked down upon by most of the world right? Oh who am I kidding, of course I'll join your group and we'll have such a fun time." Is all the hemomancer says before Annabelle brings forth a pair of half-moon glasses. Gwen thanks her servant before putting them on to get a better look at C.

"Lord C we both wish you good fortune and await your call to service. In the meantime milady isn't there something you would like to tell him? Sometime today perhaps." Annebelle subtly says to remind her mistress of her spell's conditions. Seeing the new bottle of wine she quickly leaves to get glasses in case the Hooded wants some as well.

"Oh right, make sure you eat a decent meal before the end of the day or your hunger will catch up with you. My magic has given your body enough nutrients to last until midnight. "Oh but Gwen midnight is so cliche for a spell.", well it's my spell Alexandra so I'll do what I want!" Is all the hemomancer says before Annabelle brings them two wine glasses. Caleb politely declines as he's running on empty and quickly teleports away.

By the murky and toxic waters of the Sump level of Zaun, a clump of whumps notice and scramble away from a series of air bubbles. It doesn't take long before a massive abomination emerges in the form of a crocodile creature, coated in dark chitin and with writhing needles for teeth. When the beast opens it's mouth a cloud of purified air is released. From this pocket of oxygen C manifest before one of Eccentric's creations. A trio of augmented chem punks then walk in on a rather odd display of affection in front of them. They bear witness to a hooded sociopath giving a man eating monster a belly rub before they flee.

"Alright good boi I need to go now. You be careful now." Are the last things the asckla hears before submerging itself again, but not until it drags a nearby sumper with it. Caleb meanwhile is gonna go out on a limb and assume the scavenger was evil.

Thanks to the unique style of Zaun's architecture it doesn't take Caleb long using Coercion lines to move around the slums. He makes his way to the bustling markets of Black Lanes where anyone, shady or not,l can get what they need. Granted that's if the pickpockets, thugs, or sump snipes don't get to your wallet first. However no one decides to make C a mark this day as he makes his way into a gun shop called Shot in the Gray.

The interior of the shop is the opposite of what you'd expect from it's name though. It's colorful walls are covered in spray paint drawings ranging from crude stick figures to an elegant portrait of an older brunette woman. Glass cases display a wide variety of firearms, a door leads to a workshop in the back, and a hatch with a ladder separates it from the top floor. Running among the gun displays is a pair of young children chasing a new toy. It seems to be a small replica of an airship from uppside but with some minor techmaturgy to grant it flight. Sitting behind the counter is a bored looking young woman with a red and yellow mohawk. Amy looks up from watching her siblings to take note of a brand new customer and gets up.

"Beth and Jordan go upstairs. It's time for big sis to do business." Is all their older sister needs to say before the giggling twins climb up the ladder to the next floor. Amy straightens out her tank top before leaning over the counter. This obvious ploy is to distract from the fact she's readying a revolver in the back of her tool belt.

"Don't worry about me. I'm not gonna try to rob the place if that's what you're thinking. I was just coming in to see if I could get a custom gun made." Caleb says while smiling, though no one can see it underneath his glamour. He then approaches the counter and starts to look over the guns within.

"Well sir you can never be too careful, you ken? Since this is a custom job I can tell you right now it will cost you a pretty cog." Are all the older teen says while trying to read the stranger's face. Deciding it's futile she walks backwards to pull a hex-carbine, rifle, revolver and a shotgun off the wall behind her.

"I was hoping you could make me a special rifle for a very special and stupid task. Have you heard of simunitions before?" Caleb ask before lifting the rifle to test it's weight and holding a breath. Misinterpreting his actions though Amy tries to shoot him in the head only for the bullet to pass right through.

"What the? How in the Gray Lady and Janna did you do that?!" The now excited funsmith says before a rifle barrel slowly emerges from the second story hatch. Before the twins' orderly can stop them another shot rings out, only to phase through Caleb.

"I told you all I wasn't gonna rob the place. But you guys can go ahead and keep shooting at me for fun." The Hooded doesn't regret saying those words as the siblings proceed to unload their ammunition at him. When the last rounds are spent Caleb releases Spectral Form since he won't need it anymore.

"Okay now I'm interested in your order. As for simunitions we do offer them in a wide array of ninety different colors. Do you know which ones you'd like?" The saleswoman says before bringing up a crate filled with various colored vials. Another box filled with colors also gets haphazardly dropped from the twin's hatch.

"Hmm such a hard choice. How about one of each color? Give the pilties a nice show, you ken?" A smirking Caleb says as his inner troublemaker starts to get ideas. It's also at this moment when he wonders if he should get something for Ekko and Ajuna, he decides against it.

"Alrighty then. It's about seven bells right now so how about you come back about thirteen bells? If you like we have a couple of benches you can wait on." Is the estimate Amy gives her consumer after checking a nearby clock. At this time the twins slide down the ladder before carrying a box each into the workshop.

"If you make it before twelve bells I'll gladly double the payment. Oh and do feel free to make these rounds hurt." Caleb request before he and the teen shake on their deal. Deciding to take a nap on a bench by the entrance, the Hooded is then lulled to sleep by the sound of bullets being made.

A few hours pass before Caleb is awoken to the sound of giggling. Opening his eyes he sees the small brunette pair ready to spray paint him. Taking action, the Hooded snaps up before waving them away from him. Their sister then walks over to him with a briefcase containing an automatic rifle and three magazines filled with rounds. Seeing the clock on the wall says eleven thirty he hands over double the agreed upon price. Before he leaves though Amy tosses him a rebreather mask since it looks bad outside, for five cogs extra.

As soon as Caleb steps outside he puts on the bronze mask to protect him from the Gray cloud surrounding him. It seemed while he was napping a grayout occurred and now Black Lanes is deserted. While walking amongst the abandoned stalls the Hood starts assimilating the newly acquired mask. During the process Caleb's old, broken mask emerges in his right hand. Rather than toss the busted equipment he instead pockets it as a memento, after all it was Nita's.

By the time it's twelve bells Caleb is already walking amongst the people of Mainspring Crescent in North Piltover. Making his way through the sunny streets he finds a bakery that is getting ready for the lunch rush. Quintesence's Bakery is a fairly large place since it also has half a dozen tables for guest to eat at. The front counter displays confections ranging from simple glazed donuts to cakes decorated enough to be art displays. Several automatons walk amongst the tables tending to the customers already here. C is quick to note the presence of two burly wardens having an early lunch break. Aside from them the only customers here are a young couple with their newborn and an artificer by the window looking over notes. Behind the counter a small blonde woman who is commanding the employees in the back through a window. She turns around to notice the Hooded and wipes her hands of sugar before picking up a notepad.

"Welcome sir. Would you like a moment to browse our goods or are you here to pick something up?" Quintessence ask while pulling out a sample plate from the glass case. She also quickly checks her order logs but doesn't see any pick ups at the moment.

"Hello, I think I'll take three of everything you've got on display. Also can you be quick about it since I'm in a bit of a hurry." Is all Caleb reasonably ask before pulling out his new gun. As the officers notice and get up to help both are quickly shot and painted.

"Oh my gods! Look we just started the work week so we don't have much in the register." The now panicking owner says while looking at the groaning police. A gloved hand quickly is put on her head and her shaking worsens.

"Don't worry I didn't come here to rob you. I actually have the money to pay for these and any ensuing damages. Now again hurry the fuck up before more law dogs show up!" C says while leveling his gun at her face. Less than a minute passes before sirens are already signifying the arrival of more cops.

"Why are you doing this? If you had the money to pay why the hell would you bring a gun?!" Says the perplexed baker ask while noticing Piltover Swat vans arriving. She then realizes one of her customers must have been a member of the clans.

"I wanted to do something stupid and get into a fight. By the way your service was great and trust me this is nothing in the future. I mean you're gonna look back at this whole mess as civil." A smiling Caleb says as the last of the baked goods are put in boxes. With the owner fleeing out back with the last of her employees he turns his attention to the Swat teams assembled outside.

'Caleb I would like to update you on the Kumungu teleportation you wanted. It'll take a few minutes to get it ready. Can you hold out?' Levia ask her host before he gives her a thumbs up. With that confirmation Levia gets back to working on the teleportation network. Lately she has noticed what seems to be a cat and book teleporting with ease and has grown curious.

A minute passes and already a massive hail of gunfire has been traded with laser bolt fire. Crowds of Piltover's elite have gathered around the shootout to get a closer look at the spectacle. One person of importance is a woman in a purple short dress, a repeater musket, and her signature top hat. Caitlyn is analyzing the battle and notes how if someone went in to distract the criminal she could get a good shot. Meanwhile walking by the fire fight is her relatives, a young blonde girl in a blue dress and her cybernetic great aunt with her signature blade legs. Camille is quick to usher her favorite grand niece away from the battle while taking note that a new Hooded has arrived. She has had some rather intense encounters with the previous two in the past, both before and after her operation.

Meanwhile inside of the shop C is lazily returning fire while munching on a jelly donut. He sees a squad of pigs taking cover by the armored van they arrived in and opens fire on them. Having his bolts weaker than normal, Caleb gives the police time to flee the van before it explodes. Of the thirty officers in the gunfight with him he knows that at least half have been disabled from injuries. An airship soon approaches from above and a team of snipers forces him to move away from the windows. Caleb casually his way behind the counter in spectral form, C also picks up a loaf of sweet bread on the way. To his surprise the left wall is blown in and an assault squadron with shields walks in. He forces the team back with a horizontal Pumpkin Slash which pushes them outside. Smelling smoke the Hooded turns around to notices a small fire has started in the back. An officer notices the blaze too and all Swat members flee before the building explodes. Managing to escape out the back entrance before the building exploded, C is quickly set upon by half a dozen Swat members. Using a Coercion line Caleb pulls one of their police cruisers to act as cover. Seeing a motorcycle around the corner, Caleb saws his car in half to trigger the Dark Armor. With his strength greatly enhanced, C grabs both halves of the vehicle before throwing one at the officers in front of him and the other at a second approaching airship. Using his opening, the Hooded quickly makes his way on all fours to the hextech motorcycle. Once on it Caleb disperse the armor and uses Pumpkin Energy to jump start the techmaturgy engine. A high speed chase then ensues across town to the bridge that is the home of the Rising Howl. As people flee the area in panic from the intense gunfire, C makes his way onto the ledge of the bridge. Before the officers can get out of their various vehicles the hooded felon has already leapt off the railing. When they go to check where he fell to all they see is a flock of birds passing by. Several hours later they reluctantly end the search as they can not find any trace of the mysterious gunner.

Amidst the dense jungles of Kumungu is a large nest resting in a beam of sunlight with several eggs. As one starts hatching Caleb arrives and witnesses a baby albino basilisk being born. The dog sized lizard then stumbles out of the nest and starts to cuddle against the Hooded.

"Levia why aren't we in Harelport? I thought you were going to teleport me close to Nidalee." Caleb inquires before kneeling to pet the large lizard. It doesn't take long before he finds out it likes being scratched under the chin.

'Well I said the portal you wanted would take a few minutes. But then you had to go and get yourself into a police chase like a show off! But aww look at the little baby. Oh and now look at the big baby.' A now fawning Levia says as her anger subsides. She just can't wait for this little guy to grow up and eat people.

"Wait whaaa? Oh my god!" Caleb's confusion is answered when a fifteen foot tall basilisk tears through the trees. He barely manages to avoid being gored by it's massive horns with Spectral Form before fleeing.

Several days pass and some hunters at the edge of Mudtown are returning home. They are making their way down the last hill when a venomous snake blocks their path. Suddenly a knife attached to a strange rope comes out of the brush to decapitate the lizard. From the bushes emerges a hooded man covered in various shades of green and brown camouflage. On his rope belt are several blast plants, a woven cage filled with giant ants, and few well fed nirpooties plants. He rushes up to the dead snake, tears out the spine with his teeth, cooks it with a strange blue glow, before hastily eating it. The pair of kiilash hunters and their human companion can only watch in abject horror.

"I have been... in that jungle for three days. Is this Harelport?" The mysterious savage ask the trio before wiping his mouth. He has to snap his fingers to get the hunting party out of their daze.

"Umm this is Mudtown. Sorry." Says the lone human of the group before looking to his companions. John who has previously seen his friends tear apart crocodiles with their claws notes the shock in their eyes.

"Ah I see. Fuck! Well do you guys know if any boats or something are heading there soon?" Caleb asked as exhaustion from his jungle trek starts to catch up to him. The taller of the two vastaya simply points to a boat with three large blue sails.

While the Hooded starts racing to charter a ride, both cat women briefly look at their hands. One moment they see themselves as completely human before going back to normal. With C running towards the port both of them start to shout words of encouragement at him, much to the confusion of John.

The Drunken Scuttler is a schooner built for quickly navigating the shallow waters of both the coast and Serpentine Delta. Her modest crew of twenty is mostly made of humans with a few lizard and cat vastaya. While the crew is ready to cast off a Coercion line flings a new and unexpected passenger on board. Captain Dave is the first to march up to the intruder with cutlass in hand. Dave has a healthy tan from sailing since he was a boy, a slouch hat, a heavy brown leather coat for the jungle rains, and scars covering his face, including a missing left eye from surviving various pirate raids. A nearby rope floats into his hands as several other ones that make up the rigging come to life as well. When the living ropes try to tangle up the stowaway they simply pass right through his body. Taking advantage of the confusion his Spectral Form gave, Caleb then dashes to the captain with Betwixt Crossbows in hand.

"Afternoon Captain. I would like to be granted passage on your ship." C request before Dave pulls out his flintlock and aims it at his stomach. Both foreigners have an intense standoff before they start laughing.

"You crazy bastard I was gonna hang you. You're lucky that you can phase through things like that. What are you sods looking at?! Hurry up and get the final preparations ready! So how the hell you been?" The dirty blonde ask his former Captain before putting away his gun. With the crew putting the last of the supplies on the ship he ties them down using his magic.

"Oh you know how it is. Killing scum, doing crazy shit, and getting paid. I see you've gotten your own ship now." The Hooded responds as he leans against the railing. He pulls one of his nirpooties off his belt and tosses it to the wharf rats swimming near.

"Aye the Emerald Valkyrie was a fine vessel but she wasn't the same without her captain. Heard Benton got a job on Sarah's ship and Rose ran with her share of treasure. Something about a baked goods stall in Piltover." The former pirate hunter turned merchant recalls about their old crew. He pulls out a flask of rum and takes a swig before manning the ship's wheel.

Between the wind being on their side, rope magic, and some hydromancy from "Steve", the Barnacle Mataka, the Drunken Scuttler only takes a few days to reach Harelport. Despite some initial qualms about it, Caleb buys a basilisk mount before heading into the jungle. From town he follows rumors from the locals along with some cougar paw prints heading north. After more than a day's worth of tracking Caleb stops by a small river for his mount to rest. Thinking the tall grass along the shore makes for good cover, the Hooded also takes a break. While taking a drink from his canteen and reapplying his camouflage a bright blue light shines by C's side.

'Hey Caleb check out what I can do again!' Levia exclaims before a miniature version of her true self manifest before Caleb's eyes. Seeing that her ability succeeded the little serpent starts to dance.

"Oh cool Levia. So is it like last timeline where only I can communicate with you or did you fix that?" Caleb ask which immediately kills the Leviathan's buzz. After nodding no she then starts to punch at her host with the blows passing through him.

'You ass! I don't do this to make you look less crazy or because I like you. I do it so you can see all the disappointment in my eyes and my resting bitch face. Oh, what were you expecting me to say "Baka!" or something? Fucking nerd.' Levia rants to her soul bond before he puts up a hand. She only stops when she hears a rustling amongst the trees as well.

"Levia do you hear that? The trees are whispering… y ellos hablan español!" Is all Caleb can shout before a slash of wind narrowly misses him. Before he can rush back onto his stead another slash cuts it in half.

A warrior dressed in a crimson tunic and black trousers with white face paint jumps from the brush to stab C. From his newer memories Caleb knows about the people of Ixtal but this attack still comes as a surprise. After all he could have sworn that he made sure to avoid trespassing in the isolationist country's territory. It would seem that the magma mage doesn't care though as they try to hack him to pieces with an obsidian sword. Avoiding a thrust allows C to grab his attacker's sword arm before breaking it. This lets the Hooded force his foe to stab himself in the gut before kneeing the blade deeper. A jet of water then tries to slam into the Hooded but the blow is blocked by his new human shield. Seeing two mages in the tree branches above him, C uses Coercion lines to pull them crashing down. A woman in blue manages to come to her senses in time to avoid a wide swing from the Betwixt Chainsaw. Her associate , a man in green, is unable to avoid it however and is slashed by the foreign weapon across the back. Wondering where the rest of their group is at, the woman summons two whips of ice and water to defend herself. She tumbles to the side to avoid being cut down by a Pumpkin Beam before lashing out. With the ferocity of a monsoon the hydromancer starts to attack everywhere nearby at once. C is forced to go spectral to avoid the torrent of attacks and the debris flung by each crushing blow. When the flurry of strikes ends, Maya only sees a jungle that looks like a flood hit it. What she doesn't see though is her Hooded adversary rising up from behind her. Only a step on the puddle behind her alerts her to his new location. Even then it's too late as the Pumpkin Pummeling starts and it lifts the dragon cultist off the ground. Before Caleb can unleash the final blow however a spray of blood hits his face. After wiping it off he sees a spear jutting from the woman's chest.

From the tall grass a pack of over a dozen massive cougars emerge carrying the bodies of more cultists. At the lead carrying a man in gray is a female cat with white stripes, a collar with large teeth attached, and a small green spot on her forehead. An emerald shine consumes the cougar before nothing of the great beast remains. In it's place is a woman with long dark hair wearing a fur collared jerkin and matching trousers. A similar light consumes the spear and returns it to Nidalee's side. With a serious look on her face the Queen of the Jungle raise two fingers at the Hooded.

"Oh no! No. You did not save me twice. I was handling myself just fine. So don't even think that this counts as me owing you anything." Caleb declares before the wild woman can even say anything. Several of the cougars start to growl at the Hooded for his disrespect but Nidalee simple pets them into calmness.

"You returned from mission. Get your revenge?" Nidalee manages to fumble out her question before rubbing her throat. Caleb hands her his canteen knowing that she can't talk for long, or as well others.

"So why are these people hostile? Why they hunt you and me?" C ask while trying to keep his words as simplified as possible. The jungle woman walks up to the dead hydromancer's body and points to the face paint they all share.

"Cloud drake. They see her as alpha. Made offering nearby. You come and help us? Please." The Queen of the Jungle ask before shifting back into a cougar. At first Caleb thinks she wants to carry him when she comes to a stop next to him. However as he tries to mount her, Nidalee leaps out from underneath him.

"Ouch! Okay I'll help but damn it that hurt. Lead the way Nid." C tells her before going into the canopy using Coercion lines. From there he follows the pack of jungle cats north to where the cult intended to gather.

The impromptu hunting party finds itself at the base of several mountains near a clearing filled with offerings. Hiding amongst the nearby treeline they can see food ranging from wild pigs, crocodiles, a small drakehound, and an elephant. Caleb lays on a large branch overlooking everything while Nidalee and the pack spread out around the feast. He takes out a spy glass from his pocket and notices a series of ruined pillars around a cave entrance. Several hours pass and it will be dark soon considering the setting sun is paired with an approaching storm. With nothing of note happening he gets up from his stomach to drink some water.

"You see in the dark? Might leave until morning if not." Nidalee ask Caleb as she climbs up onto his perch. The Bestial Huntress considers using a scryer bloom to illuminate the field but a nagging feeling hits her.

"The sky looks awfully funny right now wouldn't you say? Something is wrong." Is all Caleb says to confirm the now tense Nidalee's suspicious. As the rain starts to fall they both hear the sound of thunder but a severe lack of lightning before each crash.

From the almost black sky a blur of gray starts to speed towards the clearing. Culniar, the Sky's Hammer, lands in the field with such great force that a massive current of wind explodes from her body. It is so fierce that all the nearby cougars are knocked away by the blast like rag dolls. Our pair of champions almost suffer the same fate were it not for a Coercion line tethering them to the ground. The ten foot tall drake rises up to almost thirty feet tall as she stands on her hind legs to shoot her wind breath at the duo. Nidalee and Caleb are barely able to avoid the attack as it cuts down the tree they were on. The wind drake proceeds to bat her mighty wings to blow away the defiant insects before her. Ixtal starts to feel more like the Freljord as freezing winds batter the two hunters. This doesn't stop them however, Nidalee grabs onto C who then starts to use Coercion lines to pull them closer towards the dragon. Culniar starts to fire more wind blasts at her foolish foes but Caleb is able to ride her wing gust to avoid the breath attacks. With the two getting closer by the second, Culniar starts to take flight. As the she dragon rises she feels a tugging sensation on her tail. Craning her neck down to look at the problem she is surprised to see Caleb and Nidalee hanging off her. A spear coming at her face makes the wind drake look away but she is too late as it plunges into her right eye. In a rage that she has suffered damage the dragon starts to increase her altitude, all while shaking violently to remove the ticks bothering her. The duo are several thousand feet in the air when they surpass the nearby mountains and make it to Culniar's wings. As the wind dragon breaks out over the clouds she starts to perform snap rolls to get the champions off. Nidalee is actually flung off at one point but a Coercion line pulls her back to Caleb. Knowing they can't reach the head like this the pair look to each other before they both stab into the she dragon's left wing. Hacking the mighty appendage off everyone involved enters a free fall back towards the clearing.

'Caleb I hope you have a plan because if not we're gonna die!' A panicking Levia screeches at Caleb as they are plummeting. When asked where Nidalee is the glowing serpent points to the falling woman.

"Nidalee come to me! I have a plan! When I say to hold your breath do it and don't die!" C screams at his shapeshifting companion before they "swim" to each other. The Sky's Hammer tries to blast them with her breath attack but Nidalee shuts her mouth by throwing a spear into it.

The crippled wind drake while tumbling tries to control her plunge with her remaining wing. Culniar is able to slow and control her fall a bit but still smashes through plenty of trees. Following the path of destruction and debris is Nidalee and Caleb who are floating down safely. They are able to do this because C has made both of them go spectral while several Coercion lines hold the Hood like a parachute. As the two champions touch the ground Caleb returns them to normal and they both gasp for breath. Their break is cut short when a furious and bloody cloud drake emerges from crash site.

"Wux hofibai! Wux geou trian xikin mrith dout waphic lae si gribkoan shafaer dout drihliri. Dout denthanus geou tiichi sia suacoic ihk tiselaiw. Ihk si Culniar, wer svant jhank vur hianag di wer Agata kaden rune, geou qe dout sultanic." The large wind beast shouts at the two warriors that have defied her. Her fury is further added to when the female looks confused while the male hums an annoying tune.

"C what does it say? Is it surrendering?" Nidalee ask as she tilts her head in confusion. This doesn't sit well with Culniar who fires a wind blast near the Bestial Huntress who promptly dodges it.

"She doesn't speak draconic! Nid the dragon basically said "Rawr rawr I'll eat you two. Rawr rawr screams on my winds, Rawr Rawr I Culniar will be your ends." Now let's slay a dragon." Caleb answers Nidalee and mocks Culniar before he dons the Dark Armor. Half of Nidalee's cougars also arrive to help after having recovered enough.

Even with her tongue having been impaled, an eye missing, a wing cut off, and coated in shrapnel the Sky's Hammer refuses to back down. At this point the dragon's hurt pride is all that keeps her going as she roars in fury at her adversaries. The hostess of the Agata clan's rune charges the impudent hunters who rush forward to meet her as well. The dragoness comes to a stop before both groups collide and swipes her remaining wing at her foes. Despite being shredded to pieces from the crash it's still powerful enough to stun both Nidalee and her large cats. A familiar sensation tugs on Culniar's wing as a Coercion line latches onto it. As C flies towards her remaining wing the she dragon attempts to bite into him mid air. However a well timed Spectral Dash propels him through her attack unharmed. With the Betwixt Saw in hand, Caleb slices off the dragon's remaining wing before Culniar's tail smashes into his back. Lacking her wing's ability to create strong gales, the cloud drake finds herself quickly set upon by Nidalee and her pack. Knowing their chances of challenging even a crippled dragon head on aren't the best, Nidalee's cougars perform hit and run attacks on the dragoness. Nidalee however turns into a cougar again to pounce onto the dragon's face, clawing and biting at it. While the Queen of the Jungle's surprise attack works at first, she is eventually pried off the dragon's face and thrown. Sent tumbling through the crushed dirt and grass, Nidalee watches the drake try to jump on her only to be pulled back. With his enhanced strength Caleb yanks the dragoness further back before pinning her tail to the ground using the Betwixt Greatsword. Culniar desperately tries to turn around but receives a spear to her already damaged jaw. With Nidalee drawing her attention again, Culniar tries to kick away Caleb. This ends in failure as The Hooded catches her foot and twist it. As C starts to climb onto the dragon's back, Nidalee attacks head on again. This time focusing on the cloud drake's remaining good eye, the Bestial Huntress manages to damage it. Being blinded doesn't help the cloud drake as Caleb lands on her head where he recalls his blade. Now armed with his gauntlets, the berserk Hooded starts to pummel away at Culniar's skull. With her head now cracked open the she dragon finally resigns herself to her fate and collapses dead. As with most dragons this is not truly the end for the daughter of the Agata rune. Her spirit both blesses her victorious foes and immersed into the lands around her. Returning to the elements of the world, she is able to take solace in one simple pleasure. That her power goes to those who fought well against her rather than those who would falsely worship her for strength.

'We did it Caleb! Now that we've killed the cloud drake it'll give us ten percent cooldown reduction on our ultimate. Woo!' Levia celebrates as Caleb dismisses the Dark armor. Climbing down he can barely see anything around him before a blue glowing wave flies past him.

"Thanks for the bloom Nidalee. By the way Levia how does that help? I mean I use stance changes and Nidalee uses a transformation." Caleb ask Levia before the serpent flies into a rage asking why they even did all this then. The answer given to her is "Simple. Nidalee asked." before the Hooded walks back to the central clearing with the wild woman.

Making his way into the caves just past the ruins Caleb puts down the manor box and opens it. As Nidalee and him leave the bone filled cave they find a set of luxurious doors have replaced the entrance. When they open the grandiose doorway gone is the bone filled cavern. In it's place is a massive foyer but both of the champions collapse onto the floor. It would seem that their battle with the dragon has left them both exhausted. Not long after they both drift to sleep as the pack gathers around them to rest as well.

Alternate Universe Snippets: Primordial Order VS Chaos #1

Amidst the vast multiverse a new universe is being born alongside two other beings of great power. One is a four armed, fiery, demonic knight who will be this world's incarnation of Hell. Her brother, Paradise, has manifested in robes made of blinding light with clockwork angelic wings. To their combined horror though the world they were set to be bond with suddenly blinks out and dies. A stream of souls meant to inhabit this new world start to flood out but are held back by the pair. Not willing to become laughing stocks of the multiverse Paradise and Hell come together to form a plan and a new plane for these beings.

We find now that two massive armies are facing each other down, marauders and devils against wardens and angels. They have all gathered in this barren wasteland to initiate a decisive battle. From the heavens a massive meteor crashes into the earth causing lava, fire, and dark stones to emerge from below. Meanwhile on the opposite side of the field, rain starts to fall as light breaks gently through the clouds and quickly fills in a crater to create a lake. As limbs start to manifest out of the inferno on one side on the opposite side light starts to become absorbed by the water. Not long after two groups of ten have emerged on both sides of this newly christened battlefield. Ten warriors of Order by the names of Riven, Nidalee, Garen, Karma, Syndra, Karthus, Jax, Pantheon, Brand and Yorick emerge from the holy pool as blue energy restores them. From the earth ten warriors of Chaos by the names of Yasuo, Lee Sin, Vladimir, Darius, Nasus, Vi, Caleb, Zoe, Rakan, and Sett shake off what unwanted stone remains on them before red energy invigorates them. With both groups of demigods manifested and their respective armies gathered two final entities approach the fray. From the remaining magma a massive creature with four arms is created at the same time in the heavens an angelic being is formed from the clouds. Seeing their respective patrons observing, both sides begin to charge toward the opposing one. The demigods enter the war zone as well but they all know who their true foes are.

The Infernal one known as Nasus towers above the mortals around him while smashing through their petty defenses. While he is using their souls to further empower his halberd, the trail of broken bodies begin to rise again. A globule of light hits the dark ascended in his chest before the undead leap onto him with feral abandon. To disperse the now dogpiling corpses, the ascended summons a circle of hellfire beneath him before turning to his challenger. Yorick who was blessed by the Arclight stands ready with even more corpses. Ready to add another to the stack of still corpses in his wake Nasus rushes at the Arclight only for a ring of gold and light to surround him. Sending his small army of ghouls to attack, Yorick starts to walk away as Nasus struggles to smash the undead. Before he can be overwhelmed Nasus unleashes his inner fury to grow even larger as well as two extra heads. With a sandstorm and hellfire surrounding him it doesn't take long for the infernal being to break free of his cage. Yorick in response to this development throws off his cape and summons the Maiden of the Mist to empower himself. With his Queen by his side and a new army of ghouls raised, Yorick's ax starts to glow before he leads his new army's charge against the flaming cerberus.

A circle has formed amongst the ranks of Paradise and Hell as two brawlers begin to duel each other. Armed with only claws and some obsidian gloves Sett is attempting to punch the head off of Jax. The Archangel however is proving more than a match for the beast man bastard as he is knocking away the Demon's blows. With a final parry he leaves the hybrid open to being stunned by smashing his bell staff into the wolf man's face. Wings then sprout from Jax's back as he takes a might leap into the air to strike down Sett. The gritty fighter has other plans however as he releases his stored up energy in a destructive blast that grounds the angelic being. Grabbing the foot of his opponent, the fiend pulls Jax closer before punching him in the face and rushing forward into slamming the angel. Not one to be shown up in battle, Jax quickly gets up before six wings erupt from his back. He starts to swing his weapon so quickly Sett is put on the defense. An empowered blow mixed with his true angelic might smashes into the demon's chest and sends him flying onto his back. Spitting some black blood, Sett gets back up before cracking his knuckles. With their respective warm ups over both of the warriors can only smile, after all this will be a good fight.

A cluster of marauders are trying to cut off several wardens when they suddenly erupt into holy flame. The wardens peer into the golden blaze before falling back from the frontline as they notice their savior is Brand. With pure abandon the Arclight starts to set his section of the battlefield ablaze. An act that turns ally and enemy alike to nothing more than ash made husk in the ensuing inferno. Before the "holy" abomination can kill another group of marauders a feather slams into his head. Brushing off the attack Brand launches up a pillar of flame on the chaotic warriors who seconds later come out unscathed. A shield of hellfire had enveloped them before coming together to form a comet that crashes in front of the Arclight. Infernal Rakan then launches everything around him into the air with a burst of lava and flames. Internally all the mortal combatants are relieved that a champion of Chaos has begun fighting the holy flame wielder

On the opposite edge of the battle several boulder sized chunks of earth are torn out of the ground. Syndra then hurls them at the demons beneath here and crushes dozens of them to death. A stone then rockets past her head before the Justicar notices Vi sitting on one of her thrown motes juggling more stones. The smirking demoness smashes her bare hands together to summon her wings and gauntlets. As the Demon takes flights Syndra starts to summon her light orbs and more islands to crush her opponent. Bobbing and weaving through the projectiles Vi then punches her way through one that Syndra used as a shield. Before she can lay a claw on the holy sorceress a wave of energy shoves her back. A barrage of light sphere pummel the brawler as she starts to plummet. Vi then slams onto her feet before launching a long chain that latches onto Syndra. In desperation the Order mage tries to fly away but is quickly caught up to and body slammed into the earth.

Floating casual through the warring hordes Karthus is chanting hymns to help ease the dying. His work is interrupted by a massive shockwave nearby as Lee Sin is getting into the spirit of battle. Getting annoyed by the singing Lee Sin throws out a concussive blast at the Angel of Death. As is connects the confident monk kicks towards the passive angel who seems like easy prey. A flick of the wrist later makes Lee immediately stop his kick as a wall of golden clouds and gates appears. Closing his good book Karthus turns to his bloodthirsty opponent and unleashes his inner light. As magnificent wings emerge from his back an aura of pure radiance starts to encircle the mage. Mortals all around stop to gaze at the holy being before their life forces are drained to join his radiance. Knowing his enemies time has come Karthus prepares one final song. A gentle ray of light starts to envelope all of the champions of Chaos and angel feathers start to float down towards them. Lee Sin notices this and leaps to a nearby marauder before kicking away the holy creature. With this savage fighter in his way Karthus realizes now he will have to take this wild soul first to pacify the rest.

A different soul is also helping mortals move towards reincarnation as well. Lady Karma is moving towards the sounds of suffering souls when she comes across a grisly sight. Vladimir and several demons are using their magic to torture several caught angels. Driven to free the angels of their pain and punish her adversaries Karma shoots out a massive fireball at them. The self proclaimed "King of Night" notices this and while his fellow hedonist are disintegrated he merely sinks into his pool. As the dark mass quickly undulates towards her, Karma uses her magic to envelope herself in energy and run from it. An orb floats above the all consuming pool before shooting globules of death all around. One his the Dawnbringer in her back and slows her down enough for Vladimir to casually walk up to her. This proves to be a mistake as when he starts to drain her of her life force her mantra kicks in. The Nightbringer tries to pool but a tether ties him to Karma and when he is forced to emerge, finds himself wrapped in holy binds.

Amidst the roars of conflict two stand out the most, the roar of the majestic lion and the howl of the wolf of war. The two avatars lead forth charges from both sides to clash near their masters. Garen eager to prove his worth before the other godly host attempts to end his fight quickly with a decisive strike. These hopes are decimated when Darius pulls him closely and forces the orderly king onto the defensive. While they are in a contest of strength Darius starts to gain an edge before Garen splits his blade in two. Forced to backpedal, Darius can barely avoid getting hit as Garen starts to unleash a flurry of spinning strikes. Taking a desperate swipe Darius has the blade twist mid attack to smack away one of Garen's swords. Seeing an opening the wolf king draws his massive ax back and slams it around him. While this cuts through all the surrounding mortals, Garen summoning his avatar shields the blow when it comes to him. The two god kings stare each other down for a bit before charging at each other once more.

Prowling amongst the conflict Nidalee is waiting for an opportunity to pounce on an unsuspecting Chaos warrior. She is surprised when it's actually her that is ambushed when a chain tendril wraps around her and drags her to her presumably doom. Fallen Caleb is reeling in the cougar when she transforms into human form to escape the line. She is able to roll away and hurl a spear at the constantly shifting being when he tries to jump on her. The lost soul simply turns into flames as the spear passes through him before summoning a greatsword of obsidian. Nidalee decides to take the initiative this time and pounced onto Caleb, tackling him to the ground. Her massive teeth are only held at bay by the stone blade before it disappears. This throws the jungle cat off before a gauntlet grabs her neck and lifts her off. What was once an angel struggling with corruption is now a full blown demon with great power. With it's enhance strength he wraps his arms around the cougar's body before painfully crushing it. When she is thrown away the guardian of the wilds sheds her bestial form. As the demonic being marches towards her Nidalee grits her teeth and heals her wounds for the fight ahead.

Several exhausted squadrons of wardens have managed to penetrate past the marauder lines but find themselves unable to continue. Seeing her playthings falling asleep, Zoe summons an orb of chaotic energies to smash into them. Before the purple and red orb can detonate however a line of golden shields blocks the explosive. From the dust Warrior of Dawn Pantheon emerges to face the self proclaimed "Jester of Madness". The monster with the face of a child summons several colorful orbs to circle her. Skipping and cartwheeling around her magic starts to fly out around Atreus into several victims who turn to ash. Not willing to let more people get hurt, Pantheon goes to to slam his shield into the impish creature. His blow winds up striking the ground as Zoe has disappeared through one of her portals. The impish creature returns from above with a volley of paddlestars. Summoning his shields of light again the Warrior of Dawn also has spears explode out of the shield formation to stop the chaotic magic. When the barrage ends the soldier of light grasp his sword spear and throws the holy weapon at the devilish terror. Zoe avoids it with another portal before popping out near the back of the battle. Her giggles at the chaos she brought are stopped when the spear she avoided earlier lands in front of her. A star rises from the battlefield before an angel of war wreathed in golden and blue flames rockets down towards the little terrified demon mage.

At the center of this bloody confrontation are the two de facto leaders of both factions, Dawnbringer Riven and Nightbringer Yasuo. Both warriors are hacking and dashing through the grunts all around them before clashing. Yasuo is forced to jump back when Riven releases a burst of energy. She barely is able to duck under his blade when he slash at her mid leap. The Nightbringer is quick on his feet and thrust forward which nicks Riven's side as she tries to tumble away. They both charge at each other again but both of their slashes are blocked by the other's shielding. The connection of holy and unholy energies causes an explosion that sends both leaders landing amongst the other's troops. As Riven uses precise and heavy strikes to bat away the surrounding marauders and demons, Yasuo cuts to ribbons the wardens and angels around him with his hidden claws. Several small flame elementals emerge from Yasuo's blade to attack the Dawnbringer who just smacks them away. This was a distraction however as Yasuo spits a demonic brew onto his blade which ignites it. When he slashes it a massive tornado of flames grows from it and catches Riven in it's vortex. A mask of flames covered Yasuo's face before he flies into the air to unleash his ultimate technique. Clones made of smoke and darkness aid him as they smash into the angelic warrior before the demon gathers them into his blade. As he tries to smash her into the ground Riven's eyes glow an even brighter blue before she reveals her true self. This enhanced form grabs her demonic foe by the neck before throwing him into the ground. As the devil creates a crater from his crash Riven sends out a massive slash of holy energy towards him. Not ready to fall just yet Yasuo summons a wall of high winds and hell fire which blocks the wave of light.

As Yasuo gets back up a jet of golden flame coureens toward him and as Riven lands a ball of wild magic spirals to her. Before either projectile can hit though, shields of light and hellfire protect both warriors though not their own. Both sets of champions line up together again along with what few mortal divisions remain. Their patrons imbue both sides with the same blue and red glows as early before they unleash their true forms once again. With this done both sides rush and fly forward one last time to decide this destructive and blood battle.

Hours later the clashing of blades ends when Yasuo dashes beneath Riven and cuts her across the back. With the last of the angelic host dead, the last of the demonic host looks around at the carnage. From countless broken bodies of mortals to the decimated supernatural creatures to even his fellow champions that now lay still the Nightbringer takes in the picture of death before him. As he gets up to leave the battlefield however a pain erupts from his stomach as he notices a deep wound. Letting go of his blade the dark swordsman tries to walk while holding his guts in but with his black blood leaking eventually he collapses. After he turns over and reaches for one last drink, the champion of this cycle notices that his blood has started to turn white and golden.

Time passes and the Primordial War ended with people in the world able to live chaotic but free lives. The bodies are all washed away with rain and the return to the earth as even time forgets what has happened. Eventually two kingdoms arise from the ruins of this world, one living just but stagnant lives and the other free but darwinistic. A conflict inevitably arises as the influence of the harbingers of both the lion and wolf firmly take hold. From a grand city by a lake the people pray for their gods to lead and protect them. Outside of it's walls the people of the wilds pray to their gods for strength in destroying their oppressors. Both prayers are answered as a meteor crashes into the ground near the free people of this world. Meanwhile a gentle rain has started over the nearby lake and a being of light is formed in it. He quickly swims to the surface and without disturbing the surface walks onto land. From these waters a warrior with a white katana of pure light emerges while wearing golden and blue robes. His bush of golden hair is tied back with a pair of silver bands and he takes in the sight of the inferno not far from him. In the blaze he sees a giant who summons eight warriors of chaos before the flames mold into three more Infernal beings with two swords, a bow, and massive wings respectively. Witnessing the dark champions moving to meet with the Wolf King he is startled when a hand touches his shoulders. Yasuo turns to see his fellow champions of light emerging including a girl with a golden bird on her shoulders and a woman with a strange hat and rifle. The hand however belongs to the God King of Order who has come to gather his allies for the defense of his city. Aside from those champions noted the rest seem to be in pain before a blue glow envelopes all of them. On the side of chaos a similar red glow rewards them before they prepare to fight. Unbeknownst to both sides a pair children are growing alongside the latest cycle of conflict.

A/N As always thank you for reading my story. I do hope you all leave request on things you'd wanna see as it also helps me plan out future events. Side stories include Variables and Constants which focuses on AUs, Tales of the Hooded which tells the stories of the previous Hooded (Message for option details),and Sleipnir Squadron Logs which focuses on other OCs besides Caleb and Levia though they will meet up in time. I am as always pleased to provide a source of hopefully entertainment for others and that you will support me in all your different ways in the future.


	4. REunited

A/N Welcome, welcome everyone! I do hope you all enjoy the first chapter of the new year. Happy Birthday Twins.

Starring: DAHN, Aki, Metto, Caleb, Evelynn, and Quinn Cameos from: Cathy, Yuumi and Book, Cithria, "Steve", Sona, Neeko, Riven, Valor, and Levia

Months pass at the C Manor, and we find some of Caleb's friends having a lazy day. In the buffet hall we see a pale man with rich, brown hair in a blue vest with a long left sleeve, and khaki shorts standing before the meat section. On the barefoot man's right shoulder is a ring of raw pink muscles. Invisible servants begin to lift the lids off of the silver trays, revealing a smorgasbord of meat based dishes. DAHN's mouth starts to water as it's right arm starts to rip apart and reform. It eventually transforms into a new arm, one that is made of purely muscle with organic metal for bones and claws. A row of teeth lines down the middle of it before the former zaunite scientist kneels a bit. He then lines up the arm with the plates of food, before moving his arm across them to feast.

About three years ago, Asya was finishing up her shower when she heard a crash coming from the living room. The blonde woman ran into the living room to see her children, Hedeon and Nadia, helping their father up. Thinking the scientist had worked too hard recently, Asya lays him down on the nearby couch. Like her kids, she knows how much Danilo's most recent project means to him. Her husband believes in his synthetic organisms and the good they bring. He told her himself that with these creatures they could make a future, away from Zaun. Being the man's former assistant, Asya has just as much faith in the red worm creatures. Several hours later, the family is eating meatloaf but Danilo has yet to touch his plate. With the kids starting to look at him worried, Asya finally decides to speak up.

"Love. You've barely touched your food. Is there something you would like to say?" The factory worker ask while cutting off another piece for her son. When his mom doesn't look, he sneaks a small piece for the family ragdoll cat, Petro.

"I lied. Oh Janna! What have I done?! It's all my fault!" The man shouts before he breaks down crying. Quickly moving the kids out of the room, Asya starts to comfort her husband.

"What did you do? I'm sure we can fix it if we put our minds together." Asya, being the ever supportive wife she is, tells Danilo while hugging him. He gives her a light kiss before his brown eyes meet her hazel ones.

"I took out money from the Numerals. It's all that bitch's fault. Now I've gotten a vision of you and the kids all dying. I get left a crippled husk of a man but my experiments work and save me before it's too late. It's insane but this vision of mine felt so real… Asya please come with me to the lab. I can't protect you from those bastards but we don't have to suffer." Danilo begs while putting his hand out for her to take. Feeling in her soul that he is right, the mother of two puts her faith in the love of her life.

The next day a squadron of Numeral thugs go to investigate Danilo's lab. Upon arrival the group find it devoid of any signs of life. Armed with automatic rifles, they start to spread out and find the wall of cages, alchemy station, and filing cabinets emptied. Pulling out a radio, the crew of four start to ask if anyone has seen their target. Behind them what was once Danilo hangs above the entrance, waiting for it's chance to strike. With it's feet formed into claws and spikes, DAHN watches the hitmen announce their failure to secure Danilo. Slinking down from it's hiding spot, the Twisted Amalgamation bars the path to the front entrance. This startles the thugs, who quickly line up to form a firing line.

"Professor Danilo. Our employers would prefer we take you alive. Of course we could always go after your wife and kids if you refuse. Now will you peacefully come with us?" Peterson ask before his team turns off their safeties. Taking aim, they can't help feeling disturbed when he starts to laugh insanely.

"Not this time you fuckers. This time we were prepared." Are DAHN's only warning before it's arm transforms. Near the shoulder a hazel eye opens as the fingers on DAHN's hand start to split into clawed tentacles.

Taking the initiative, the Numeral hit squad opens fire upon the mutant. This does nothing as DAHN's lashers start to smack away the bullets. Eventually all of their clips run out and the still creature before them has sustained minimal damage.

"Yeah, no. I'm sorry to have bothered you. You have a good day sir." Is all the lone female shooter of the group on the far left has to say. She proceeds to put down her gun and leaves out the back door. DAHN simply shrugs at this before turning to his remaining prey who choose to stay.

While two of them are reloading, the burly one in the middle charges forward with a switch knife. DAHN launches out their arm and swaps places with their assailant by piercing and throwing them. After that they back hand the gunner behind them into the wall of cages. Peterson tries to club the mutant before receiving a massive punch. When the man behind them tries to get up, DAHN makes a massive fist before hammering down the gunner's skull. Watching his team mate's skull enter his chest, Peterson pulls out his pistol and opens fire. Being shot in the leg, forces DAHN to take a knee. They then quickly retaliated by stabbing Peterson's gun hand with a tentacle. The remaining hit man starts to scream in even more horror as they are slowly dragged towards DAHN. Other tentacle fingers start to skewer into Peterson's other limbs, until he is dragged into arm's reach. Choking Peterson with it's remaining human limb, DAHN's mutable arm forms a tunnel filled with teeth that starts to lower onto Peterson's head. Not able to move their limbs to defend themselves, the Numeral lackey can only cry as they regret taking this job. The next ten minutes are only filled with the sounds of bones snapping and fleshing tearing. When DAHN emerges from the lab, not only do they have a healthy tan but no evidence of bodies are left. Wiping some blood from it's mouth, DAHN climbs to the rooftops and takes in the sight of another squadron of Numeral thugs approaching. For the next couple of years, they would continue to perform hit and runs on the Numerals. Until one day when a man in a hood appeared and ended the gang menace.

Back in the present DAHN is curled up on a table, surrounded by empty platters, when a metal finger starts rapidly tapping it's nose. Instincts take over for the mutant as they swipe their clawed hand in an arc in front of them. After hitting nothing but air, DAHN looks behind him to Cathy standing with a look of annoyance. Meanwhile, coming from the kitchen holding a turkey club in one hand, and an ebony wakizashi in the other is Aki. Cathy starts to scold DAHN about how the food it devoured was for C's birthday party, and Aki simply stands there eating his sandwich while watching the two argue. Using his blade as a mirror, the former ninja notices some mustard still on the blade and cleans it. In his now undisturbed reflection, Aki is relieved to see his shorter raven hair looks fine. He also starts to check his casual dress shirt for stains but doesn't find any on it or his dark fatigues. Trying to look good for the party later, Aki is trying to hide the scar on his right check with some concealer but decides to wipe it off. After all he knows the others don't care for his wounds, even his mauled mess of a left ear. A few minutes pass with the Cyber Pilot and Twisted Amalgamation still arguing, which starts to get on the Shadow Wyrm's nerve. Leaving to find a peaceful place to eat his sandwich, Aki sniggers a bit at the two adults arguing like children when he's a teenager. Even so the teen has seen plenty of combat in the Ionian and Noxian war, as a former member of Zed's order, and his own personal escapades. Putting his sword back with it's twin at his waist, Aki heads to one of the many balconies and sits down to eat.

A few months ago when the rogue shadow ninja was still in Ionia, Aki was infiltrating a gang's apartment complex. Apparently a group of brigands had taken over the concrete building and were extorting the area. Several guards had been tasked to deal with them but haven't been heard from in two days. With the other guards too terrified to enter, Aki decides to go in alone. The concrete building is four stories tall with a large staircase at the center leading to all the floors. While the Shadow Wyrm encounters no resistance on the first his luck ends there. Upon entering the second floor, a dozen brigands armed with knives and clubs attack him. However with superior hand to hand skills and training, Aki leaves the hallway filled with bodies. On the third floor he begins to hear groans of agony and chooses to sneak towards the sound. When Aki reaches the source of the sound, a pale and smiling brigand in red comes out with two long knives.

"I'm gonna check on that noise gu… Intruder!" Huájī yells to alert the other four gangsters, who are skinning the lead guard, before pursuing Aki, He tries to stab Aki near the staircase entrance but gets disarmed and put into a headlock. Hearing the other killers coming for him, the Shadow Wyrm starts pulls Huájī into the stairwell. After pulling the struggling Huájī, Aki then throws him over the edge. The man slams spine first into the stone railing on the opposite side and dies immediately.

Avoiding a slash from behind, the Shadow Wyrm quickly makes a run for the roof. He manages to find a door leading to it, but finds that it has been locked. Struggling with the lock for a bit, Aki turns to see the four gang members arrive down the hall. They consist of Shi, a young dark skinned teen a few years older than Aki with short curly hair. Kun, a short older woman with caramel skin and a circlet on her head. Sharul, who is some kind of a shark based vastaya with dreads and ear piercings. Finally is their leader named Kardama, who is a white haired man in a purple cloak. All of them are armed with blood soaked machetes and ready to avenge their friend.

A familiar sensation overtakes Aki's right hand as he lets go of the door handle. Shadows are starting to form in his twitching palm but he dispels them by making a fist. Both parties then charge at each other with the brigands shouting a war cry. Kun reaches Aki first and tries to cut his head off, only to be blocked and disarmed. She is quickly thrown kneed and thrown onto the floor behind Aki. Sharul tries to stab the Shadow Wyrm, only for his wrist to be caught and thrown into Kun. Shi takes a swing but is blocked as well and tackled into a wall. While pinning the boy down, Aki unleashes a swift series of kicks into Kardama. Ak then elbows Shi in the throat before kneeing him away. The white haired man pulls Aki from behind and slams the former ninja into a nearby door. He then knees the Shadow Wurm before following it up with a stab. However Aki dodges the attack and proceeds to kick Kardama to the ground. Starting to stomp on the downed man, Aki is then tackled back first by Sharul. The shark vastaya has the intruder under him and stabs at his face. Aki is barely able to dodge the stab and elbow Sharul in the face. After getting the vastaya off him, Aki is dragged by the leg to a kneeling Shi. Kun shouts for the young man to quickly cut off Aki's leg. Before they get a chance, Aki quickly kicks out Shi's legs and Kun in the face with his free leg. Aki then slam Shi's head into the floor before stealing the boy's machete. A dazed Kun is barely able to leap back to avoid Aki's swing. Sharul tries to provide back up but is straight kicked in the stomach for it. Their leader then clashes blades with the Shadow Wyrm. Aki is too swift for the older man and winds up giving him a cut on the neck. Trying to reduce their numbers, Aki tries to stab a downed Kardama but Shi tackles him from behind. Losing his blade due to the surprise save, Aki slams Shi's head again before going for the blade. Kardama is quick to recover however and nearly cuts off Aki's fingers. A swipe then sends the intruder rolling back and he almost winds up hacked by Kun. After the woman receives a combat boot to the face, Shi and Sharul try to double team Aki. What winds up happening though, is Aki goes back and forth between kneeing and kicking the two. Sharul is eventually sent crashing into an abandoned room after one too many kicks. This does give Shi a good slash at Aki's back with his blade but Aki's leather armor mostly protects him. Angered by the hit, Aki starts to punch Shi repeatedly in the face and slamming his head against the adjacent door. With Shi stunned, Aki grabs the teen by his head and slams them both into the entrance of the emptied room. While Aki lands safely, Shi winds up with the bottom shards of the broken door in his neck.

Aki pauses for a bit to consider what he has done while holding the twitching body's head. Inside of the one room apartment is dusty furniture that was left by it's previous inhabitant. Remember this is no time for morals, Aki stumbles a bit getting up before turning to Sharul. The shark humanoid raises his sword to strike but instead is gut punched several times. Aki the flips the hybrid through the nearby wooden table. Kun and Kardama then rejoin the fight, even if it means jumping over Shi's body to get inside. Kardama has all of his attacks blocked before he is slammed onto an abandoned stove. Kun tries her luck as well but has her sword arm pulled out of it's socket. Aki then forces the woman to cut her own stomach before slamming her onto the ground. Kun's life is then quickly ended when Aki stabs her chest with the stolen blade. Sharul kicks away the machete from Aki's hand before sending the intruder over the couch. In a blood frenzy now, Sharul is landing quite a few knees on Aki and even bites his shoulder. It goes well until the Shadow Wyrm picks up the gray man and slams him neck first into the nearby corner. Furious at all his comrades being taken out, Kardama starts to trade blows with their killer. The brigand leader proves to be surprisingly adept at hand to hand combat. At one point he is even able to flip Aki over his head and put him into a headlock from above. Grabbing the man by his hood, Aki pulls Kardama off of him before head butting his nose. Aki tries to put the larger man into a chokehold only for it to be broken. Kardama then picks up the teen before charging him into a wall. Aki starts to hit him in the back though so he has to throw the teen away. The Shadow Wyrm quickly gets up and has to avoid two wild swings from the bandit's reclaimed machete. Grabbing Kardama by the sword arm, Aki then punches and elbows all the way down the right side of his body. Finishing the fight with a Rabbit Punch, Aki turns to the sound of fighting. Apparently the guards decided to be brave and are fighting some returning gangsters downstairs. Needing a quick get away and seeing a barely conscious Kardama getting up, Aki gets an idea. Picking up this gang's leader, he then crashes the two of them out of the room's window on the fourth floor!

On the ground outside, Aki moves away from the convulsing body into a nearby alleyway. In pain. the Shadow Wyrm takes off his armor and catches a breather. When he's done pushing in a couple of dislocated ribs, Aki feels cold steel hook around his neck. Grabbing the shaft of the kama, Aki then slams his body backwards which knocks down his attacker. Turning the weapon, he gets ready to attack but stops when he sees who it was. Standing behind him is a teenage girl with a long, dark ponytail, wearing green light armor, and with her face obscured by a green mask.

"Hello Akali. So did you want to kill me or say goodbye?" Aki ask while juggling the kinouchi's weapon. They talk one last time before Aki leaves both Weh'le, and her behind.

Back in the present, Aki wonders what happened to his homemade ramen when we swap to the last Sleipnir Squad member. Her name is Metto and she is glad that she found some ramen to eat. While bird watching from one of the mountain's ledges, she can't help but feel like Aki would have liked her meal. Quickly forgetting the thought, Metto then pulls out a flute from her back pouch. The Wind Shepherd's emerald eyes turn to a deep blue as Layka starts to play. With her song carrying on the winds, it doesn't take long before several birds, lizards, and spirits arrive to listen. Reaching into her amauti's back pouch, the dark haired woman throws down a special salt. The enchanted mineral feels cool as snow and begins to form a small idol of the woman. Salty Layka then enters a carriage that starts to move towards a little mining village. Big Layka begins to then tell a story of one of her journeys.

The mountain top village of Phoenix Perch is currently enduring a snowstorm. It's tall wooden gates open for the approaching supply caravan carrying avarosan grains and medicine. Amidst the travelers is a woman wearing a tan and purple skirt style amauti with colorful wooden charms lining the base of it. Long black hair slips from her hood as she looks around the plague riddled village. A few of the village militia members start to approach the new woman. Before they can ask her anything though, a man wrapped in murk wolf skins meets them halfway. He tells them that she is an exorcist, they found wandering amongst the sastruga near the mountain. In exchange for getting the shaman to Phoenix Perch, she would fend off evil spirits that harassed the caravan. This came in handy when several qiqirn, blood sucking dog demons, attacked the caravan. This blonde man in wolf skin is named Asger, he proceeds to escort the tanned woman to their warmother's hall. Sitting at the head of a long table is a woman with crimson hair overlooking several maps. Metto notes how there are several Xs all over the base of the mountain. The weary redhead raises her gazes from the maps to her village's new guest.

"Forgive me if I'm not the best host stranger. My people suffer from a curse and we are barely able to scrape by. Our mine reaks of the dead while it's workers have returned with disease. Whenever we try to leave the village to hunt either all the animals have been eaten or the hunters have." Warmother Asta informs the shaman of their plight before collapsing on her throne. Gazing over to Wyrm Fang, her true ice spear, the middle aged woman can't help but see herself as a failure at protecting her people.

"Evil does lurk around this village. I like to help wherever I can and for now this place needs me. Know that I will treat your followers as I would my own kin warmother Asta. Wow I actually sounded professionally… oh sorry." The ditz of a spirit says before kneeling next to the tired leader. Even someone as scatterbrained as Metto can tell now that the Xs are spots where attacks happened.

The next day Metto and a group of hunters, led by Asger, head to the sights of the attacks. While the hunters attempt to find traces of old tracks, the overnight snow storm doesn't help them in this task. The Wind Shepherd takes some time to move away from the group. After being alone for a bit, she starts to hear the spirits hiding in the trees. They tell of a large mortal nearby that has been stalking these woods. Beyond that they know nothing but do point the woman towards a fresher set of tracks. The massive size of the foot prints gives the impression of multiple trolls. Metto is weary of these tracks though as the trees mentioned a lone mortal. Deciding to head back to investigate the mines, Metto leaves the trolls for the hunting party.

Night has already fallen by the time she enters the festering mines. Lighting a torch, the Wind Shepherd begins to venture deep into the mountain. Heading deeper into the tunnels, the smell of rotting flesh soon hits her nose hard. To counteract the miasma, Metto summons a small bubble of clean air around her. Sensing a fight coming, Metto pulls out a colorful fan from her back pouch. It is over a foot long with a cobalt blue handle extending down the middle and feathers from all over the world on both sides. Nearing the end of the tunnel, the shaman feels a draft coming from behind a blocked off passage. Summoning a massive gale of wind, Metto clears the rocks and comes across a water filled chamber filled with half eaten bodies. On a small island near the back is a young woman who looks like a younger version of Asta. Her emaciated features and the fact that every part of her is too pale shows she needs immediate help. Trudging through the inky pool, Metto finds a spot on the island to put down her torch.

"Ma'am are you able to hear me? I'm going to get you out of here. Just give..." Metto is unable to finish her sentence as she hears a smashing noise. Suddenly from over head a twelve foot tall humanoid crashes through the center of the chamber. A mix of man and beast is revealed by the moonlight before it rises. The bloodsoaked grin and mash of ice,bones,and flesh for a body confirms to Metto that this is a chenno. Gently sitting the dying girl against the wall, Metto turns with her fan raised as a flood of wind encompasses her.

As the demon roars at her, Metto points her fan at the creature and let's loose a barrage of slicing winds. Cuts and holes then start to coat the chenoo, it then picks up a boulder to throw at Metto. Leaping out of the way, she lands on a body and starts to channel an icey blue energy into her fan. When another rock it thrown at her, Metto releases the pent up energy which turns into a cone of three chilling gales. The middle of the wave catches the massive stone midair, it then freezes and shatters the boulder. Her Boreal Blast then converges at the chenoo's feet before freezing her foe in place. While the giant monster struggles to break from it's icy prison, Metto has already started conjuring another spell. Red energy engulfs her fan this time as an unfamiliar heat fills the cavern. Ice thaws, water boils, and the air goes dry before a blistering tornado forms around the frozen prison. The beast is left a flayed mess when Metto goes in for the finisher. Running up to the creature's maw, Metto then reaches into her pouch and grabs a fistful of magical salts. With one hand she pries open the jaw before shoving her fist full of minerals down it's throat.

While the demon is busy melting and boiling from the inside out, Layka goes to check on the girl. Motherly instinct kicks in, as the blue eyed woman cradles the girl like a newborn. From within the steaming shell of a demonic body, Asger lays with a block of ice in the middle of his chest. Using Metto's power over the winds, Layka is able to float everyone out of the chamber. Outside of the mine's entrance, several militia members were coming to investigate the noises when Layka lands by them.

A half hour later in Asta's hall, Layka explains what happened in the mine. Together the two mothers are able to determine what happened. Several weeks ago the two successors were sent with a hunting party to find food. They must have gotten into conflict with the local trolls as the rest of the party never returned. Layka explains how Asger must have been hoarding food during their time lost and eventually turned into a chenoo. Being possessed, he would have then tried to convince Ula to resort to cannibalism but failed. This would then explain as to why she was left to starve in a cave filled with bodies. Asta holds her head as she realizes that the miasma was her daughter losing control of her magic. When pressed about it, the warmother explains that her bloodline had some mages in it and recently the girl's powers developed.

"How long will my son stay in his slumber?" The worried redhead asked the shaman. At this point between exhaustion and the fate of her only children she can't stand up from her throne.

"The songs and stories say his heart will be frozen until another gives him their own. It must be an act of love that breaks the ice that shatters blades. It is a life for a life." The blue eyed woman says while staring into hazel eyes. She watches as the warmother grabs Wyrm's Fang and use it as a crutch to stand.

"Then I must go. I pushed them too hard to stand on their own and prove their worth. Tell me though stanger. Your actions and clothes give you away as a mother. Would you do the same as I am about to?" The redheaded woman ask the other woman. She does so to not only give herself one final push but to remind everyone of who exactly saved them.

"I am. I play my instrument for him every day. One day when I've made the world a better place for him I will go back. Even though it means we must be apart, I feel in my heart he knows I love him." The now teary eyed Layka says before leaving the hall as well. As she is trekking away from the mountain village, Layka pulls out a flute from her pouch and starts to play.

With Layka's story done, Metto goes to meet with the other members in the lounge. It's a fairly simple room that the Sleipnir Squad prefer to meet up in. Several houses plant, a coffee machine, full liquor bar, massive couch, and endless fridge decorate the place. Metto is sitting on the couch eating chips, DAHN is in a minor food coma next to her, Aki is polishing his blades, and Cathy is looking over a notebook. The mechanical woman gets up rapidly and starts to panic, they forgot to get C's birthday cake. Cathy and Aki decide to head to Zaun to find a cake and both teleport there. This leaves DAHN to greet guests and a thinking Metto to set up the party. After everyone else rushes out, Metto isn't able to tell them where C went. She then shrugs this thought off before wondering what Bandle City is like.

Swapping to Caleb, we find that he is stuck in a doorway to a den located underneath a tree. The yordle population of the small plane proved to be kind, telling the mysterious human where Yuumi frequents. When he found a small door leading into Nora's house, Caleb made the rather poor decision of trying to crawl into it. With his top half poking into the house, Caleb sees the place is kept tidy via magically animated cleaning supplies. His bottom half suddenly feels something flat land on him. Trying not to freak out the Hell out, the Hooded relaxes until a pair of paws land onto his behind and start to stretch out claws. In pain, Caleb goes Spectral and launches himself back outside. Landing in the tall grass surrounding the house, Caleb sees Yuumi with her head stuck in Book. Gently grabbing the cat and lifting her, Caleb sees she has managed to get her head surrounded by bread. Stifling a laugh, the lost twin puts her back onto the floating literature before scratching her head. Several hours later, Levia and Caleb with the help of the magical beings are able to finally improve his teleportation. Carefully moving the sleeping cat off his lap, Caleb gets an idea for what he wants to do first with his teleportation.

"I wanna see Quinn. It's our birthday and I don't have an excuse not to see her." Caleb tells Levia who was only half awake during the last hour. As Pumpkin Energy decontrusts them to teleport, the ancient being starts to freak out. The reasoning behind this is because they wind up arriving in the middle of a battle.

Along the southern woods bordering Demacia and Noxus, thousands have become embroiled in a skirmish. The battlefield has been split into two fronts, on the upper side of the conflict Demacia's cavalry is struggling to break the Noxian pike lines advancing across a muddy plain. Meanwhile on the lower flank, both sides are fighting for control of the woods in the nearby valley. The noxians require control of this due to it having a goat path that leaves their left flank vulnerable. Caleb has landed in these woods, he has shown up just in time to see a horde of noxians closing in on the last few dozen demacians. While Levia is busy scolding him for his recklessness, Caleb wonders if someone here knows Quinn. Between this question and a noxian swordsman trying to decapitate him, leads to C joining the battle on Demacia's side. With a gauntlet wearing hand, C breaks the attacking noxian's jaw with a punch. After hacking his way through the noxian horde, Caleb and the remaining demacians reach the goat path. It is a narrow walkway on the side of a cliff with a rushing river near it. From here Caleb leads the counterattack, either shoving noxians into the river below or pushing them back up. As the pile of dead or cussing noxians gets too large to move past, C's dark armor emerges to help. Using his enhanced strength, C and the demacians are able to literally push the invaders out of the forest. Prepared for the event Demacia broke out of the valley, lines of noxian crossbows await the defenders. Catching a bolt aimed for his head, C uses Coercion lines to slam into the noxian arbalists. Raising his Betwixt Greatsword high, C cuts down the surrounding invaders before moving onto the front line. Dispelling his armor to conserve energy, Caleb with his greatsword is able to easily destroy the enemy noxian's pikes. Cithria, the leader of the just arriving reinforcements, notices a cloaked warrior leading in the creation of a gap. She commands her forces to charge forward once again as Quinn and her forces also emerge from the goat path.

"Richt! Link! Richt! Link! Richt! Link! Richt! Link! Richt! Link! Come on you bastards give me a real fight!" C shouts to the noxians as he swings his zweihander in rhythm from right to left. Having made an opening for the cavalry, the Hooded then feels an evil presence near the battlefield.

Several minutes later amidst the chaos, both demacian lowborn commanders find each other. Quinn, who had noticed the cloaked stranger leave into the nearby treeline, wants to give them chase. Cithria however is able to convince the ranger knight to stay back and help finish the battle. It doesn't take long after that when silverwing riders appear and help to push back the now retreating noxians. With her obligation fulfilled, Quinn and Valor manage to pick up a trail that leads deep into the woods. The duo then start to hear explosions and crashing sounds while the area fills with a pink mist.

After leaving the battle, Caleb and Levia were moving towards the dark aura when a pink mist started to roll in towards them. Before it reaches them, Caleb lowers his mental defenses for a little bit just to let the Lust Dust show him something. While Levia and the Hooded can't tell what Caleb saw, it clearly made him smile. However as he walks towards the illusion, a dark tendril pierces him from behind. After a shadowy figure forms, it tries to rip out Caleb's heart but pulls back nothing. Instead C's fist narrowly misses the shadow's head when he tries to back hand it. Before it can create some distance however, an explosion of pumpkin energy erupts from his palm. The shade, after getting knocked back by the blast, starts to reveal itself as a scantily clad, buxom, blue skinned woman with amber eyes and dark tendrils.

"Mmmm thanks for the birthday present Evelynn. Now would you mind explaining what a "lovely" lady like you is doing here?" Caleb demands of the demoness before swapping to sword mode. The shapely figure tries to approach him but the Hooded keeps his blade between them.

"My, you're a strong one aren't you? Resisting my Allure like that. While I'm not one for pillow talk, I suppose you've earned a reward haven't you? You see I was getting a bit lonely and hungry so I helped instigate that little battle over there. It's no Rune War but it's enough to get a girl warmed up. Now why don't you put that nasty sword away and let me take care of you?" The seductive creature says before blowing a kiss at the Hooded. As a heart of Lust Dust flies towards the warrior, he declines her offer by cutting the projectile midair.

"As lovely as that sounds, I think I'll pass. You do look nice though, far as ancient demons who feeds off of suffering and frustration go. But I don't do sadistic whores, got standards like that. Plus we Hooded don't exactly like being dominated, we prefer being on top. Now put some clothes on and get the hell out of here, or the only think about to penetrate you is Betwixt." C demands before swapping to crossbow mode. The demoness merely gives an exaggerated sigh as she struts away a bit before turning around.

"So you like it rough huh? Don't worry I can give you that and more. Oh and the last person who asked me to put clothes on, I tore his skin off and wore it." The Widowmaker tells C before having her body once again enveloped by shadows. "Now come on sugar."

As Evelynn starts to laugh maniacally, the area around them starts to become flooded with more Lust Dust. Caleb and Levia keep their eyes extra open, knowing that the succubus will try to perform hit and runs on them. With this in mind, they look for where the most Lust Dust is coming from. Seeing the cloud is thickest to the right, the Hooded is ready to evade a Hate Spike dart and answers back with some bolt fire. C is forced to then rapidly back pedal as spikes start to emerge from the ground towards him. Needing to find Evelynn, the Hooded looks for the most Lust Dust but feels something behind him. An empowered Whiplash strikes Caleb's back before Evelynn tackles him down. As she starts to drag her claws down his back, C shoots a Coercion line into her face and connects it to a nearby tree. Caleb rushes up to her and releases the Coercion tether, only so he can repeatedly slam her face into the bark. Flailing her lashers wildly, Evelynn is able to force Caleb off her. Twisting her head around to look at him, the demon starts to rapidly claw it's way up the massive oak. C isn't very far behind her as he starts to climb as well. However when the Hooded tries to mount a branch, the Widowmaker is quick to shoot it with a Hate Spike or cut it off with her lashers. Near the top of the tree, this tactic works as Caleb is sent plummeting down. Being over one hundred feet off the ground, C quickly launches out a Coercion line that forces Evelynn to support both of them. Safely arriving on the ground, C activates chainsaw mode to quickly cut down the tree. As the oak is sent crashing down, Evelynn is forced to leap from her falling platform. She manages to latch onto another tree but is ripped from it via the Coercion line still on her. When the demon slams in front of him, Caleb grabs her and starts to pummel Evelynn. Using her Last Caress, Evelynn is able to not only break free of her beating but also cut Caleb's stomach. The Hooded is then unable to shoot the demoness before she enters her camouflage again. Lust Dust starts to flood the area even more, making it difficult to see beyond one's hand. A Hate Spike manages to then hit C in the shoulder and forces him to take a knee. However as spikes start emerge from the ground, Caleb uses a Pumpkin Slash on where the spikes are coming from. Evelynn is crushed by the attack and unable to recover before C pulls himself toward her. She once again uses Last Caress to make space but Caleb dodges it this time with Spectre Dash. Instead of trying to keep her distance, the demon tries to then pounce onto C again. She barely leaps by him and tries to skewer him on her lashers only to have them caught. While Evelynn is able to break one free, she is unable to stop Caleb from using the other as a grip to close the gap. With one tentacle wrapped tightly around his left arm, C uses this to rapidly gut punch the demon with his right. When Eve tries to impale him with her open lasher, the Hooded instead grabs it and stabs her in the thigh with it. With a shout of "Begone THOT!", Caleb then uses crossbow mode at point blank to send the Widowmaker flying. Crashing into the ground, the shade's body twist and starts to spider walk away but not before hissing at the Hooded.

"Yeah, that's right! Get out of here! You demonic plastic bitch. Ouch. I'm gonna wind up sleeping for week after today." Caleb says before tentatively touching his stomach wound. The cuts across his body while bloody, aren't enough to truly worry the Hooded. He proceeds to use multiple Coercion lines as makeshift bandages to cover them.

Realizing that it's probably getting late back at the manor, Caleb spits some bloody phlegm before preparing to teleport. However, his channel is interrupted when a bolt lands near his feet and Quinn emerges. Valor then takes flight from her shoulder and starts to circle the area. While his first instinct is to run, Caleb remembers why he came to Demacia to begin with.

"I caught the end of that fight. Would you like to explain why you let a demon escape? Seems like you could've finished it if you really wanted." Quinn inquires with her crossbow leveled at the stranger. As he raises his hands to take off his hood she fires, only for the bolt to fly through him.

"Good on you for taking the shot Quinny. Rule of survival number what four? Act decisively." Caleb tries to recall as he starts to take off his goggles and removes his glamour. Amber eyes start to tear up at the sight of their matching pair and Quinn's aim starts to falter.

"This isn't real. I breathed in that mist too much. A noxian hit me on the head and I'm unconscious. Yordles, mages, or someone is pulling a fucked up joke on me for my birthday! You can't be him though." The ranger knight tells herself as she sees someone who looks like a grown Caleb. Valor seeing his friend in distress even stops his flight to comfort her. Quinn winds up sending Valor flying when she lunges to attack the imposter.

"I would've come sooner but I didn't know who I was. I never meant to forget my past but I did and for that I'm sorry." Caleb confesses while dodging Quinn's point blank shots and swift kicks. Catching one of her feet, he is quickly kicked off when she Vaults away. "I saw you die!" Quinn wails before unloading more bolts at Caleb, who shoots them down with his own.

"I did die! But my mentor brought me back from the brink. Nita saved me and I owe her to see this through." Caleb counters before pulling Quinn to him with his last available Coercion line. All that is left for him to do is hug his sister until she tires herself out hitting him. "We need to go home. Together this time." Quinn barely sniffles out before giving into his embrace.

"Someday Quinn, someday. But not today. When I've made the world safe enough for everyone I love, then I'll go back home with you." Caleb tells Quinn as he wipes away her tears. From there the twins and Valor teleport around Runeterra to quickly pick up Sona, Neeko, and Riven.

Not long after C arrives back at the house, Aki and Cathy arrive with a massive cake and a personal ice cream one. However like Caleb they too are roughed up, Cathy has bits of glass stuck to her clothes and Aki has several bruises.

"Can someone get Gwen?! We need her to heal us. So what the hell happened to you two?" Caleb ask while clutching his stomach. The two Sleipnir members look at each other before Cathy loses rock, paper, scissors. "We got into a car chase over Aki's organs and directions. What happened to you?" The cyborg ask in return while cleaning herself up. "Evelynn and a battle." Caleb says before sitting down on a nearby couch so Gwen can heal him. As Metto hands him a cola, Caleb takes a glance over at Quinn. She is trying to start a chat with a hiding "Steve" and Sona. He can't help but grin and feel a weight lifted off his shoulders at finally seeing his twin.

Spotlight Featuring: Metto/Layka, The Wind Shepherd

Passive: Wind of Change- Every fourth attack or ability on an enemy causes a small explosion of wind around them. This attack knocks away non-champions from the source and applies on-hit effects.

Q: Boreal Barrage- Metto fires out three missiles in a cone that detonate at the end. Enemies at the end are stunned but take reduced damage. Enemies hit by the missiles take more damage but aren't stunned.

W: Notus-nado- Layka commands a storm to appear and batter everything in an area, dealing Aoe damage over time. Minions take bonus damage.

E: So Salty- Metto throws out a fist full of magical salt. The first enemy hit by this is blinded and takes damage over time when Metto autos them.

R: Spirit of Zephyr- Channeling their powers into an aura, The Wind Shepherd temporarily increases her Attack Damage and Attack Speed. She also gains Tenacity equal to her crit modifier and all nearby allies gain half of these bonuses.

Spotlight Featuring: Aki, The Shadow Wyrm

Passive: Shade Style- Successfully using an ability's bonus effect increases his basic abilities casting speed and decreases the others cooldowns.

Q: Side Swipe- Aki slashes a nearby area and blocks the first auto caught in the swipe. If the auto was empowered in some way then Aki steals the empowerment for himself.

W: Shadow Fireball- Aki shoots out a ball of shadow fire in a direction. It consumes the first ability based projectile it crosses mid and cancels it.

E: Antumbra tow- Aki's shadow dragon reaches out in a direction to pull an enemy champion. If they use a mobility spell or are pulled behind him they are stunned on arrival.

R: Shadow Dragon Rising!- Assuming a defensive stance, Aki gains a shield and can't be moved. If the shield is broken or he is displaced by an enemy champion, Aki will blink to their location if he has vision of them. He then emerges to knock up all enemies around him and reduces their damage.

Spotlight Featuring: DAHN, The Twisted Amalgamation (Work In Progress)

Passive: Pure Protein Diet- Killing monsters, minions, and champions grants DAHN Mutation points that can be used to evolve abilities.

Q: Sock'em!- DAHN transforms their arm into a hardened fist and pulls it back to wind up. They then punch forward dealing damage to all enemies along the way.

Mutation: Enemies hit are forced to the edge of DAHN's punch and slowed.

W: Swap meat- DAHN launches out his tendrils in a target direction and swaps positions with the first target hit.

Mutation: The tendril additionally disarms the target hit.

E: Blade Shield- Dahn stays locked in a location and blocks all autos against them while dealing damage around them. This can be cancelled early to charge in a particular direction with a shield.

Mutation: DAHN gains a burst of movement speed upon ending his channel.

R: Implosive Rage- DAHN erupts outwards into a mass of tendrils and bone spears. They gain increased healing during this time.

Mutation: This move sucks enemies towards DAHN and can only be upgraded last.

A/N Yep no short this time around but don't feel sad. The next chapter I do will be a bit special as it's going to completely focus on multiverse shorts. You see I've been very patient with people participating in my little romance polls. So to finally get rid of this issue eating at the back of my mind I've decided to settle it for good. The next chapter will try to give each of the 3 girls in Caleb's life a little spotlight with him. This will determine the ship and help me writing it going forward so do vote in either the strawpoll in the description on AO3 or on my FanFiction one that's located in my profile. Anyways thanks again for reading up to this point and I hope you continue to do so with enjoyment.


	5. RElationships

Starring in order: Caleb, Levia, Lady Sona, Gentlemen Caleb, Masquerade Evelynn, Head Maid Quinn, Aki, Cathy, Pool Party Riven, Lifeguard Sivir, Pool Party Lulu, Pool Party Jinx, Xenoborne Kha'zix, CLAC Caleb, and Headhunter Nidalee with cameos from Masquerade Elise, Pool Party Vi, Pool Party Caitlyn, Pool Party Draven, Pool Party Darius, Pool Party Ashe, Pool Party Tryndamere, Pool Party Qiyana, Pool Party Neeko, Pool Party Ahri, Pool Party Yuumi, Pool Party Lux, Pool Party Garen, Pool Party Cassiopeia, Pool Party Katarina, Rumble in the Jungle, Pool Party Galio, Pool Party Gnar, Surf Instructor Braum, Pool Party Crasher Sion, Pool Party Kled, Pool Party Rek'sai, and Malza-Cathian Commander Graves.

(Main)

Deep inside of the C manor is a special study, while it contains several ancient tomes the most important aspect of the room is the large opaque glass. This mirror is actually a portal to the Multiversal Mirror chamber. Outside of the looking glass, Levia has just spent the last half hour looking through the books for hidden objects. Whatever high expectations she had for the skin Caleb would obtain are shattered when he emerges. The Hooded is currently dressed in a hot pink maid outfit with an open back and miniskirt, white long gloves and stockings, and matching ribbons cover his outfit. As Caleb is fixing his hair buns, Levia goes into the Betwixt Saw to become one with it.

"So what do ya think?" Caleb asked while staring into the guide bar. Levia can only be glad that Caleb can't see her disappointment or murderous intent.

'Okay, let me get this straight. You could've gone with Cero, Fallen, Revenant, or hell Courageous you! Instead you went with the skin that has you become an undead magic girl?! Infinite yous and you went with this version that dresses up in costumes?! Fucking nerd! This is why you're alone on Heartseeker's day.' Levia rants at her host and even revs to show her frustrations. Taking the alone part personally, Caleb has the manor manifest him a beanbag chair to crash into.

"You just reminded me of how I died before I could tell any of them how I felt. I wonder if they even still feel the same as me?" Caleb coldly remarks as he starts to sink even more into his chair. Levia notices how depressed he has suddenly gotten and knowing this could impact their survival, makes a suggestion, 'Use the Multiversal Mirror to help inspire you.'.

"I suppose it could work. Very well, I'll use it to peak at some other versions of myself. Maybe they've made up their minds." With that the zombie magic girl gets up and walks towards the mirror. Stepping through the glass, Caleb winds up in a small dark room. On his left and right he sees reflections of himself, these reflections then start to multiply until on both sides are an endless line of alternate Calebs.

(Masquerade)

We first get a glimpse into another world shaped by both Piltovian, Zaunite; and demonic influence. While most people live in the shining cityscapes, the richest and most prosperous members of society avoid the commotions of city life out in the countryside. Out here we find a hextech horse drawn carriage with a messenger for Lady Sona. His blue waistcoat and trousers go well with his silver bauta mask that's decorated in small intricate pigeons. As with every mortal in this plane, one's soul mask showcases their life, traits, professions and is fused to their face. As the messenger emerges to knock on the manor's door, Keeper Quinn emerges to greet him. Her colombina mask of azurite ends in two matching feathers while hosting a pair of copper crossbows with cracks over them. After brushing some dust off her maid uniform, fixing her black hair into a bun, and adjusting her thick glasses, Quinn receives the letter. Handing the messenger some gold pieces, the head maid of the house walks around the house to the

menagerie. She finds the lady of the house, Maven of the Strings, and matriarch of the Buvelle estates, Sona, helping some servants in feeding her pet scaled snapper. As the massive reptile leaves, Quinn hands her lady the letter requesting her services. Sadly it is not a request for entertainment, instead the king requires her aid in solving a crisis concerning deadly rogue automatons. Apparently the notorious Khada Jhin has managed to acquire a factory to produce the machines. For the past week they have swarmed locations all over the world and no one has managed to find his location. She was specifically asked for due to her reputation for being able to solve such difficult cases. Of course the young woman knows she doesn't do so alone. Signing to Quinn to bring the dark mask, Sona leaves to get properly dressed for her journey. A half hour later, Sona is standing in front of her mirror finishing dressing herself. She is in a long sleeved, high neckline dark dress that ends around the ankles. Sona has gone with a pair of brown tall boots with her matching black shawl and bonnet. Quinn then soon enters the room holding both a small glass case and Sona's personal organ. Opening the case, Quinn gently pulls out the right half of a soul mask leaking with corruption and whispers. Sona's golden moretta mask circled in ivory symphonies is partially overlapped by the demonic domino mask. From her shadow emerges a dapper man in a white suit, cape, right eyepatch, top hat, and only half of an azurite and copper mask covering his left eye. Using his Betwixt Cane for elevation, Caleb blows into Sona's ear which causes the Maven to shudder.

"Hahaha. Thank you for summoning me once again, my lady. To what do I owe the pleasure?" The demonic servant asks with a glean in his amber eye. Quinn quickly slaps her brother's head to snap him back to his senses. He is quick to fix his hair and hat, before summoning a breeze to ruffle Quinn's and ruin her bun.

'You two are ridiculous. Now then Caleb, I need you to take me to the daemon world. A killer has obtained a factory of automatons, we've been sought out to find it.' Sona tells Caleb with a smile. Confident that they can handle the task at hand, Sona leaves Quinn in charge of the estate in her absence. Caleb proceeds to then stab his cane into the ground and a portal of shadows swallow the pair. The well dressed duo end up warping to a dingy alleyway in the spirit realm.

Being a reflection of the material realm, the spirit realm has long since fallen to demonic influence and twisted into a massive cityscape. Smog and fog blend in the streets, imposing buildings stretch to impossible heights all around before colliding above, and pipes spread shadows everywhere with an aura of constant surveillance. If the mortal plane could be comparable to Piltover then this place is Zaun, just the place to learn about Jhin. As Caleb and Sona look for leads, she still can't help but wonder how Caleb can even stand living here. She knows that while she'll always be grateful for how he sold himself to a demon to save Lestara. Though she does wonder if the rat kings fighting each other, pipes leaking acids, or the imps gambling soul mask get to the twin. As they pass the upteenth husk of a mortal who lost their soul mask, becoming one of the Faceless, she can't help but feel her own mask for security. Sensing his lady's distress, Caleb pulls off his cape and puts it on her for a bit. Giving her a smile, he loops his arm around hers and they continue investigating. Eventually they make their way to one of the Bandle powered train stations.

Taking their seats on the Ionian Express, Sona can't help but feel something is wrong. Looking over the other passengers, she can't help but notice their eerily exact movements, mechanical even. Caleb, who can see out of her half of his mask, also notices what's exactly wrong at the same time as her. She already is using her organ to weave a shield as the first clockwork killer raises a gun at the duo. The automaton looks like a massive faceless puppet made of woven metal and bronze spirals. Four lanky arms end in a pair of revolvers and blades, the torso is home to a hextech core and lotus bomb on the front, and an opaque orb acting as a brain. As the twitching assailant fires it's first shot, her devil has already spectre dashed and stabbed it in the head with his cane. While it crumples to the ground, dozens of other automatons across the thirteen carts rise up with guns ablazing and blades swinging. Unable to help the other passengers, the two survivors of cart nine make their way to the roof. Caleb then picks up Sona and starts to run towards the front of the train. Along the way they also cut off the carts they cross with sound waves and eldritch blast. They even manage to make it to cart four, before the automatons finish killing civilians and all start gunning at them. Sona reacts quickly by making a bubble to protect them but finds it quickly losing strength. From the carts in front of them, a dozen machines start to emerge and like spiders make their way on top of the train. The machines charge to attack the duo but four are smashed about by Caleb's cane. Backing off, the automatons start to reload when Sona notices the upcoming station has a bridge over the tracks. She then tugs on her servant's leg and he understands what she wants from him. Before Caleb turns them both spectral, Sona unleashed a mighty Crescendo that lifts up the assassins. When the train pulls into the station, the robots smash into the structure while the pair arrive safely in a blood stained cart. Instead of running from the wreckage or investigating it, the various fiends instead leap onto the tracks to harvest the broken machines. Taking in the chaos, Sona sees fragments of soul masks among the scraps while Caleb wipes the blood from her.

When he's finished, the two leave the Ionian station to find a figure waiting for them by a carriage. Her dark amber eyes are hidden by a mask made of granite and steel shards in the shape of a half skull. A tight dark gray coat over a red shirt is wrapped around her body and a large collapsible blade is on her waist. As she approaches the two, Caleb and Sona grasp more tightly to their weapons.

"I take it you two are the emissaries from Demacia looking for Khada Jhin? My name is Riven Shonte and I'm a spirit under employment here in Ionia. We received a message that you two would arrive and my employers sent me to assist you." The warrior spirit informs the travelers before entering the carriage. Caleb assists Sona into the carriage before entering himself as the clockwork horses start to move.

"If you don't mind madame Riven, I will act as translator for my lady Sona. As you may be aware she is mute and can not communicate as easily as we'd wish." Caleb tries to tell Riven before she signs her understanding. Part of why the Council of Ionian Enterprises sent Miss Shonte was due to her knowing sign language.

(So lady Riven, are you able to tell us something of value in regards to our investigations? We have looked everywhere in Demacia but no one has been able to tell us anything.) Sona asked the ionian enforcer. Caleb then telepathically messages asking if they should just use telepathy, Sona tells him to hold off on it.

(We have in fact found out a place he frequents here in the spirit realm. There is an exotic "entertainment" building named the Widow's Web. From what we've gathered, he often requests a demon named Evelynn. As I'm sure you two can understand, the good people of Ionia would love nothing more than to see Jhin stopped. He is seen as a threat by most here and is wanted for a plethora of crimes. The most recent of which may include child abduction.) Riven grimly informs the pair of the last part. When pressed about it, Riven tells them that recently children across Ionia have gone missing and it coincides with Jhin attacks.

Sona's mind starts to race toward one dark conclusion as the trio arrives outside of the Widow's Web. While Riven leaves to try gathering more information, Sona and Caleb enter the den of debauchery. The three story building is divided into a different section for each floor. The base floor is decorated in plenty of plush furniture, where patrons wait to be served drinks and their turn. It's upper floors are separated via several elevators with the top floor being where the more exotic girls' rooms are. Red lights envelop the interior of the building with a soft pink glow as men and women perform stripteases on stages. The reasoning behind the building's name becomes clear when a foot tall spiderling approaches the two with a tray on it's back. Caleb explains that the purple brew is capable of altering one's mask to allow animity. Curious about how such beverages are made, they go to the receptionist by the elevators. Elise, who is currently working the desk, simply remarks that her friend Eve makes them. She tells the two that they'll have to wait a half hour if they wish to see the succubus. Suddenly a man's screaming is heard from the speaking tube leading to Evelynn's room. As the two make their way into the webbed lift, Elise warns them that Evelynn might be extra "feisty" now.

As the pair enter the expensively decorated room, Evelynn is dropping an assassin who was impaled from behind on her lashers. He had taken an animity potion to turn his mask into a plain white volto mask. Stepping over the fallen man's bloody body and tricone, Eve casually approaches her two newest visitors. When the demoness has her lashers try to touch Sona's mask, Caleb smacks them away with his cane. Upset at being denied, Evelynn starts to flail her lashers to get past Caleb who keeps blocking them. Tired of the demon's interference, the Widow Maker tries to use her Lust Dust on the two only for that to fail as well.

"Well, that hasn't happened before. So what do you two sticks in the mud want?" Evelynn asked before going back to lounging on the bed. Pushing the still bleeding corpse under the bed, Caleb then materializes a chair for Sona to sit in next to Eve.

"My lady would like to ask you some questions about your recent dealings with Mr. Khada Jhin. We have good reason to believe you have been aiding him in his recent activities. If you would be so kind as to point us in the right direction, we would be grateful." Caleb both requests and demands of the demoness. After doing some gratuitous and sensually stretching, Evelynn crawls over to where Sona is sitting. Caleb starts to bare his teeth and flare up as Eve then takes a seat in Sona's lap. When the demoness starts to get touchy with Sona's mask, dark ooze begins to pool at Caleb's feet.

"I'll tell you what you want to know, if she gak!" Evelynn can't even finish her request before she is lifted by a transformed Caleb. His previously white outfit has turned into shadows and flames while he chokes the succubus. With one hand, he slams Eve into the nearby wall and smashes her head against a wall lamp.

"She doesn't have to do shit for you whore! Now stop fucking around before I tear you apart!" Dark Caleb roars at Evelynn before skeletal wings erupt from his back. Evelynn is unable to respond as she's been paralyzed by fear at the sight of the demon lord before her. She would have even passed out if not for Sona getting behind the balrog of a man and hugging him.

'Caleb! Come back to me. You are not like this. Calm down my shadow and let the harlot speak.' Sona telepathically pleads with Caleb. Seeing what he currently is through her sad eye, Caleb calms down and reverts to his normally gentlemanly self.

"I'm so sorry my lady, it's just everything this woman does makes my skin crawl. Do forgive me for my outburst Miss Evelynn but we are in a hurry." Caleb tells the Widow Maker while dusting himself off. She eventually recovers and gets back up with some help from the visitors.

"Ouch, I'm normally the one doing the choking around here. I really should've realized why my dust didn't work earlier. Anyways since you let me keep breathing and Jhin was willing to send a friend of his to try killing me, I'll talk." With that Evelynn starts to tell Sona and Caleb what she knows. Jhin had been receiving a large quantity of her animity potions so he could travel with ease. He also wanted to use some of her Allure so it could act as a sedative, at the time Evelynn didn't care what or why he used it for. When she started to question what exactly the killer was doing, Jhin sent an assassin after her. With that Sona and Caleb depart, but not before Evelyn teaches them the runes needed to reach the factory.

While the pair arrive at the factory hidden in the Ionia mountains, Jhin has sent an unwelcome surprise to the manor. In retaliation for trying to stop him, Khada has sent over sixty of his automatons to destroy the mansion. As they start to shudder across the courtyard, three are quickly taken down with head shots. On the roof of the manor, dozens of single shot rifles and crossbows line the rooftop walkways. A blur moves between the various firearms, taking down five more of the automatons before they can blindly return fire. On top of the central spire is Quinn, rifle and crossbow in each hand and without her glasses. A brass eagle then lands on her shoulder with a letter tied to it's leg. She reads it and it says that Caleb's Order will be arriving soon to help. Quinny can't help but chuckle a bit at this, after all she's fairly certain that she can clean up this mess before they can arrive.

(Main)

Back at the C manor, Caleb is wearing a blue gambeson with plate armor on his limbs and torso. He is also taking his golden glowing Betwixt Greatsword and using it to spread mustard on his turkey sandwich. Not long afterwards he gets a call from the Sleipnir Squad in Zaun and answers it.

"Heyo! What's up you guys? You get revenge for that time Hoss' boys tried to harvest Aki's organs?" Caleb asked while hearing massive amounts of screams and gunfire. Aki himself responds after DAHN shouts at him to do it since the rest were busy.

"Hey boss, could you do me a favor? Yeah the others are being assholes! Saying shit about how I'm too young to be killing so they won't let me." Aki requests the Hooded before Cathy can be heard countering "Not to let him since he's a teen."

"Aki please listen to your elders because they care about your well being. After all, killing a man is a big responsibility and burden to bear." Caleb responds back with as much trolling, yet good willed, energy as possible. "Are you high right now?! I've been in the Ionian war and…" Is all Aki can rant about before Caleb hangs up on him.

'You know he might come back and kick you in the face. Seriously, why the hell is Aki so tense? After all, he got to go to the friggin Pool Party universe when the world ended last time.' Levia notes which gets Caleb thinking a bit. "I guess we could look there next."

(Pool Party)

Due to someone saying his name elsewhere, Aki sneezes a bit before going back to sunbathing with his drink. He got said drink earlier from the Graggy Cabana, which is currently suffering some issues due to Gragas starting to sober up. Apparently someone managed to steal his keg of infinite Graggy Ice while he slept. Because of this he is no longer angry drunk and is instead just angry. Since he won't make people's drinks, Riven and Caleb have volunteered to try and find the keg. It doesn't take long for them to find it though, seeing as it's being offered as a prize for today's competition. Realizing they are going to have to swap from their street clothes, the two go to change at a booth.

"Hey Riv, I was planning on going snorkeling later so maybe we could just ask the winners to hand it over?" Caleb asked while adjusting his wetsuit and shades. The purplette decided to wear it underneath a pair of black trunks and a purple and white hawaiian shirt.

"Come on Caleb, it'll be over quick before your dive later. Besides it'll be fun right?" Riven adds while trying to convince Caleb to help her. She comes out wearing a creme bandeau two piece swimsuit and an emerald sarong around her waist. With both of them properly dressed for the beach and pool, they pick up their respective "weapons". For Riven she has gone with a massive chilled watermelon sword that is filled with ice cream and regenerates to sate her sweet tooth. Caleb has his weird transforming parasol with a slitted eye on top. It's capable of giving him water guns, pool noodles, webbed gloves, or can just be used to smack people.

Ready for combat and a day of beach fun, the two head towards the beach where the Shurimans are organizing the day's events. Lifeguard Sivir is currently sitting on her tower taking names of the pairs that wish to compete. She stops for a second though in order to throw out her lifebuoy to Amumu who started to sink a little. Picking up a radio from her tower's equipment box, Sivir makes a call.

"Nasus can you cover me while I handle this? Okay thanks. Alright we've got some fun planned ahead for you all. Usual rules apply here which means no killing, no maiming, no being a simp, no flashing, no inting, powers are allowed, avoid any angry crabs and have fun." Sivir tells the gathered contestants, because if not Renekton might yell at her. With that she then throws a green smoke bomb in the air and soon afterwards a loud rumbling is heard. Taliyah then nearly kills all sixteen contestants when she forms a circle of eight massive sand castles. Each one is twenty feet in all dimensions and fifty feet across from it's opposite.

The eight teams are to each be given a castle that they must defend until four others are completely toppled. One player is allowed to attack freely while the other must defend and can only attack the castle across from them. The teams consist of Caleb and Riven, Vi and Caitlyn, Garen and Lux, Ashe and Tryndamere, Ahri and Yuumi, Qiyana and one forced Neeko, Darius and Draven, and finally Katarina with Cassiopeia. Each team universally agrees the more melee focused champs should be on the attacker. They are each given five minutes each to prepare and make a plan.

"Hey Caleb, I know earlier I said it would be quick but now it's looking like it'll take a bit. I don't wanna hold you up or anything so we can drop out if you want." Riven adds while they finish up their battle plan. Caleb, after finishing up their secret culvert, simply walks up to Riven and puts his hand on her head.

"I knew what I was getting into with this. Besides I'm the one who put the idea of getting a Blue Buhru in your head, so I figure I'll take responsibility and help you." Is the answer Caleb gives Riven, who then starts laughing. When she then tells him, "That's very honorable of you.", he then tells her he is also doing it because, "You look good when you smile and I love seeing it.", which immediately makes the platinum blonde go quiet while blushing. She then punches him in the arm before they turn to the sound of a voice being broadcast.

"Oh cool this thing is on. Welcome to today's games which are sponsored by Burger Emperor, Burger Emperor 'The order is given!'. Hahaha you know what's funny is I'm not actually the announcer, I just walked in here. By the way, Fat hands and Hat Lady I have a bomb next to me so get used to the sound of my voice. You've all got ten seconds to and begin!" Jinx shouts from the broadcast booth. As the attacking contestants begin to race to each under a hail of water fire and pool toys.

The chaos begins with Vi knocking Darius with her massive pink and yellow boxing gloves. With the older blood brother on his back, Darius is soon bombed by one of Neeko's water balloons. Seeing how destructive the axolotl's Blooming Burst are, Yuumi messages Ahri to hurry over to their rival's castle. Ahri, summoning jets of water around her, Spirit Rushes past Qiyana and throws her volleyball at Neeko's head. With the lizard going down after being clonked on the head, Qiyana summons a massive sea breeze to shove everyone away. The "Empress" day quickly gets worse though as a geyser of water surrounds her. Riven and Vi are also impeded by Yuumi's Final Chapter but only Qiyana gets hit by Draven's axes. Seeing what his brother is doing, Darius drags the Ixtal royal to him before slamming her with the blade of his ax. She winds up sent crashing into her castle which promptly comes crumbling down. While the little empress starts to chase Not Neeko for "costing them the game.", everyone else refocuses their efforts. Ahri tries to fall back to help defend the castle but is sniped in the back by Caitlyn. The fox's castle is then quickly set upon by Tryndamere and Garen. Yuumi and Book feel like they could handle one of the swordsmans but both are proving too much. Luckily an orb of water blows up between the spin artists as Caleb has decided to lend a hand. The cat's smile quickly evaporates as a massive arrow of water smashes into her castle and sends it crashing. Caleb, who feels like he could've helped more, does get a chance at redemption though. His partner Riven has unfortunately gotten caught in Cassiopeia's sand trap Miasma. He is able to quickly fish her out with a Coercion line before Garen can slam his great pool noodle onto her head. The demacian captain then gets to work on destroying the noxian nobles' castle. Katarina Shunpos in order to help her sister but finds her pool toys blocked by a shield from Lux. Knowing she can't break it in time, Katarina then takes a different approach. She leans in close to Crownguard and quickly whispers something into his ear. No one knows what she said to get Garen to stop but it works, though it doesn't matter as Vi slams them both into the Noxian's castle. With Vi taking out one more castle, Caitlyn sets her sight on C but doesn't see him on the ramparts. Instead the drawbridge to Riven and Caleb's castle crashes down and standing there is Caleb, surrounded by water and with his pool noodle raised. With one yell of "Betwixt!", he slams down a massive blade of water into Caitlyn and Vi's castle. As the sand settles our remaining teams of Ashe and Tryndamere, Darius and Draven, Caleb and Riven, along with Garen and Lux are granted one hour to prepare for the next challenge.

"Wow that was an awesome ending C! Anyways the next challenge is a game of kibasen but with a twist! You will all have to make a third friend from outside of the competition and carry a yordle. So try to avoid anyone with murophobia or zoophobia or xenophobia, kay? Now then if you all don't mind I'm gonna go get a hot dog and nevermind I'm going to be barricading the door. So while Fathands tries to break it down, let's check in on the losers. Take it away Koggy!" Jinx shouts into the mic before shoving a desk in front of the door. We then cut to Kog'maw, who is scratching under the belt keeping the camera strapped to his head.

"Come out, come out wherever you are? I just wanna talk to you, dumb lizard." Qiyana mumbles while stalking through the beachgrass but fails to notice Neeko camouflaged on the nearby tree. The last we see of the two, Neeko is leaping onto Qiyana while repeatedly whooping, shouting freedom, and stabbing the royal with a popsicle.

"So what did you say to Garen to get him to stop Kat?" Cassiopeia asked while returning to her lounge chair. The redhead then glares at her part sea snake sister and the younger sibling knows to drop it for now.

"It's okay Yuumi. We tried our best and that's all that matters." Ahri tells her teammate while petting the cat. Book however feels differently and proceeds to teleport Ahri several feet above the filthy pool Twitch is in.

"She's dug in there like a tick. Cupcake we're gonna need a blowtorch or something because apparently fucking space dwarves built this door." Vi tells Caitlyn after punching the reed door for several minutes straight. At that moment Kog'maw runs up and starts scratching the door to get his treats. It doesn't take long before Piltover's Finest lift up the voidborne and start to drag his acid dripping tongue on the door.

All over the beach random yordles begin to approach their respective carriers. For Riven and Caleb, despite being on land, a squid crawls up to them before turning into a kid. Caleb is already squeezing the small yordle girl in a hug before she announces that she is on their team.

"Oh my gods! Oh my gods! Oh my gods! I love it! I love it! I Iove it! She's so fluffy and cute. What? Oh don't look at me like that Riven. I lose it over innocent, cute things and you go crazy over sweets." Caleb plainly states while shooting Riven an unamused look. Lulu gets scared a fight might start but suddenly Riven starts laughing.

"Hahaha Oh my gods. You flipped so many switches just now. Oh man my sides hurt. We still have a problem though Caleb, we need to find a third person. Also I kind of feel like you carried me in the last game and I didn't do anything." Riven notes that last part with a depressed look on her face. Caleb puts down Lulu and picks up the depressed swordswoman in an equally big hug.

"You drew attention to yourself and bought me time to build up a big Pumpkin Slash. Remember I'm always here to pick you back up and that's because you do the same for me. Now about that whole needing a whole team problem, I think I know who can help us. Quick question, how long can you two hold your breaths?" Caleb asks while looking between the two confused ladies. Riven answers with a minute and a half while Lulu says two minutes, Caleb then answers the pair with a simple "Perfect."

When the time comes everyone gathers back on the beach for the second competition. Garen and Lux have brought Galio with them to help protect Rumble, who managed to turn Tristy into a palanquin. In the event anyone brought a friend who was too big a special magic field was placed on the beach. With it beings, like Galio, have been shrunk down to a more medium sized version of themselves. Darius and Draven managed to get Sion and Kled, High Major Commodore of the First Legion Third Multiplication Double Admiral Artillery Vanguard Company, on their team. Ashe and Tryndamere have gotten their close friend Braum to aid them and Gnar, who was lured into working with them using donuts.

"Hey Caleb, are you sure about this plan of yours? I am with you if you think it'll work but I'm a little worried if "it" understood you." Riven inquires of Caleb before turning to their final teammate. Behind them with Lulu clinging to her dorsal fin is Rek'sai, who managed to get bribed by the duo's ice cream stash.

"Alright nerds get into position and go! Wait, why is the door smoking?" Are the last words Jinx says before a loud crashing noise and some screaming is heard over the microphone. Nobody goes to investigate the commotion though as the contestants all start to charge each other.

All except one, Lulu's team instead become enveloped in a crystalline blue and purple energy before sinking into the ground. Team Rumble and Gnar don't pay much mind to this though as the quartet of noxians slam into them at high speed. Before Kled can use his axe to rip the headband off of Rumble, Galio puts a wing in the way. As Rumble then makes some space for his team when he uses his water thrower to push the other teams away. Gnar, who dislikes getting wet, then throws his boomerang at the mech riding yordle. It doesn't get far before though as Draven hits it midair with one of his axes. The younger blood brother doesn't get to laugh for long since Ashe then shoots him in the face with a water arrow. Pissed at the face his hair just got ruined, Draven tries to charge towards Team Gnar but this doesn't work though since Sion wants to charge Team Rumble. Darius struggles to get his team under control but can't get his words in over Kled's crazed yelling. The mess of a team even manages to fail at feeling the sand rumbling underneath them until it's too late. From beneath the sand Rek'sai burst forth, the noxians are already disorientated by this attack when Lulu then uses Wild Growth on herself. As the sand and water form an enormibus avatar of Lulu, Riven uses a burst of ki and sand to help stun the noxians even further. All of this leads up to a hyperventilating Caleb using a Coercion slug to pull off Kled's headband. The other two teams are so stunned by the coordinated attack that only Team Gnar, by noticing a heavier weight on their shoulders, snaps them out of it. This split second head start is enough for them to then get the edge over Team Rumble. Lux is barely able to put up a shield when Mega Gnar Boulder Tosses a sand castle at them. As they try to fall back, Tryndamere shouts insults at them which hurts Galio's feelings and slows them down. The ground then starts to swallow them as Ashe douses the beach in water arrows. Garen tries to spin away the wet sand but Team Gnar is already on top of them. Lux tries to bind the freljordian champions but Braum puts his surfboard in the way and blocks it. From there it doesn't take long for an enraged Tyrndamere to push his way to Rumble and tear off his headband.

With that the second competition ends with Ashe and Tyrndamere moving on to the finals to face Caleb and Riven. The celebrations are cut short however when a gust of warm wind rolls over the beach. From the air a massive blue and white seagull appears, Anivia then starts to flap her wings which violently blows air around. Caleb tries using his parasol as a shield to protect his team but ends up being lifted away by the extreme winds.

"Caleb! Anivia what the fuck are you doing?! Oh shit! WillI he be alright up there?!" Riven begins to panic as Anivia roosts in the nearby trees. She can't help but look at the former noxian with some sadness. But this wasn't a personal attack for the phoenix as it would've happened to the other teams if they won.

As several champions run to see Caleb floating away on his parasol, Lee Sin doesn't follow the commotion. Instead he tries to focus his attention back to the woman who was near him. Instead of finding the sexy sounding woman nearby, he finds out that both her and his coconut drink are missing. As the blind man stomps off to get a new drink, Neeko emerges from the bushes covered in a red liquid.

"Jungle cat Nidalee! Neeko needs help buying a new popsicle! Her old one melted and she can't remember if it was cherry or strawberry! Also Neeko is free again! Nidalee?" Neeko stops her shouting when she sees a quadrupedal catfish creature leap into the water. The aquatic being is last seen making a beeline towards where Caleb is floating off to. Hopefully she can get him back before the final contest and before anything nasty in the ocean can.

(Main)

Meanwhile the main Caleb is now dressed in a brown leather jacket, dark fatigues, dual pistols, and a red visor attached to his hood to cover his face. He's currently inside of one of the many training rooms inside of the manor. As he is unloading his akimbo pistols on several dummies around him, Levia brings something up.

'Hey Caleb I'm glad you're not crossdressing anymore but why'd you go with the Red Hooded look? Couldn't we have gone with the Dark Mafia look, I rather enjoy being a tentacle that eats our enemies' hearts.' Levia questions as Caleb kicks down a dummy. She then savours some of the savagery he displays when he unloads bullets into the downed model.

"Because then that's Dark Mafia and not Cosplay? Oh and before you ask we aren't gonna change it for a Hellborne look." Caleb preemptively responds to the serpents next question. When she asked her following question of "Why not?", he simply responded back with "I don't wanna mess up and ruin her image.".

We then quickly break to another world, in an abandoned church an argument is currently occurring between it's two occupants. The one we can see is a fat, short, and ugly looking clown in a poorly fitting suit and hat with a southern accent. The other is hidden in the shadows but her piercing green eyes and red cloak show immense anger and annoyance.

"Enough you little bitch! I'm not the biggest or baddest demon but I'm not to be messed with! I'm not the wench, not a trench, I ain't a bench, and I ain't the stench! I'm Tahm fucking Kench!" The slimy dwarf roars before reaching they tear off their own skin. What's revealed to be underneath is a gray, tall, and emaciated creature with a large curved horn, blood red eyes, a burning hole going through it's stomach, burned and broken chains on it's limbs, and a pair of mandibles covering it's mouth, filled with razor sharp teeth and a long tongue covered in the faces of the damned.

"I fucking hate clowns." Hellspawn Nita says in her state of tranquil fury before spinning her revolver's cylinder and summoning Coercion chains.

(Headhunter)

In a Malza-Cathian lab on the jungle plant of LV-572, a man's body on an autopsy table starts to spasm. From his chest burst forth the head of a xenoborne warrior known as Kha'zix. The alien infant is barely outside of it's host when the room starts to fill with gas. It first tries to crawl up towards the vents, but the company has learned from their previous experiments to prevent such escapes. A minute passes and two mercenaries in white body armor and purple hazmat suits enter the room. It doesn't take them long to find the infant creature lying under the table. As one of the soldiers tries to grab it, Kha'zix rears his head and opens his mouth to spit acid. Hitting his target over the eyes, the small uses this opportunity to quickly escape the room. Climbing into the first vent it sees, the xenoborne has it's escape interrupted when the vents begin flooding with nerve gas. It then quickly notices a fan leading to the outside and manages to avoid being cut apart by it. Over the next few hours, by eating the locally imported ionian giant squirrels, Kha'zix is able to grow into a more mature form. Telepathically receiving a signal from deeper into the jungle, Kha begins to make his way towards it. Eventually the monster arrives at a pyramid surrounded by Malza-Cathian mercenaries and scientists. Over ten thousand humans live on this world and within a week less than a hundred have survived.

Not long after Specimen K-6 escaped a distress signal was released which was intercepted by multiple groups. One of which are the Colonial Landing and Assault Corps, who after disasters on various other worlds, are looking heavily into Malza-Cathian operations for crimes against sentient life. After establishing a base camp on LV-572, six hundred of two thousand troops are dispatched to investigate the signal's location. Dozens of UD-4 Dropships fly through the air before landing close enough to the ground to deploy M577 APCs. In one of these troop carriers is somewhat of a celebrity amongst the marines inside. His name is Caleb and he has both the honor and horror of having survived a previous xenoborne outbreak. He is simply sitting in silence in his M4X armor, which comes with long armored sleeves, thick gloves, a full face mask with ballistic shielding; all of which is resistant to xenoborne blood, when his fellow marines approach him.

"Are you alright sergeant? You did so much to survive these freaks last time and already let yourself be deployed again." Colonel Lucian asks Caleb before he is quickly answered back with an "I'm fine sir." The conversation quickly ends though when the marines come under attack. The armored carrier Caleb and Lucian were riding in, was crashed into and flipped upside down by a Herald xenoborne.

A minute passes before Lucian and Caleb manage to emerge from the downed vehicle. All around them squadrons of marines are engaged with various xenobornes. Their guns, flamethrowers, and explosives clashing against acid, spikes, and claws. Lucian is quick to join the fray and lead his fellow marines with M4A4 machine pistols ablazing, while Caleb sneaks off during the conflict. The marines quickly begin to form a line to hold off the hoard before they receive new orders. Apparently not too long after their inquisition started a xenoborne managed to infiltrate the base. It's a unique breed from the other terrors since this one can seemingly evolve on the spot. Realizing the need to fall back immediately, Lucian's troops begin a slow retreat back to base. Upon seeing a lone marine, several Zix attempt to ambush Caleb but are cut down by pulse rifle fire. After finishing off the last of the deadly aliens, the rogue trooper receives a transmission from Lucian.

"Caleb where the hell are you?! Everyone else is falling back to base and we have your signal nearing the pyramid." The colonel demands over the comlink. Caleb then quickly lies that he was pushed this way and got cut off. Before Lucian can question him further, the line ends and isn't able to be reopened. Having smashed his communicator, Caleb then pulls out a recorded message and listens to it again.

"Hello Mr. Caleb. As you already know, we have your two close associates under lock and key with us. Just a reminder though, Quinn and Sona are safe with us but they won't stay that way for long. Hehehehe especially since one of them has a nasty parasite and the other is considered both company property and a traitor. So listen up "hero", unless you want Quinn to become a mom then you'll bring us a queen egg along with any tech you can find on LV-572. While you're at it make sure to destroy anything that could be considered evidence, got it?" The voice of Malza-Cathian thug and PMC leader Graves can be heard. Caleb's reflection is interrupted when all over the jungle loud howls and roars can be heard. He knows that this can only mean one thing, the Headhunters have arrived.

From her perch in the trees, Nidalee sees a lone marine surrounded by Zix bodies. Her green eyes notices another Zix getting close and she blows into a special whistle. As the evil creature leaps towards the lone marine, two massive alien cats with deadlocks and covered in armor burst from the brush. By the time the soldier has his rifle raised, both cougars have already ripped in half the xenoborne. At this moment Nidalee breaks her camouflage and leaps down to impale her prey. He is able to roll out of the way and opens fire on the huntress, this works at making space but no in harming the Headhunter. Alyx and Ryo, her cougar companions, charge the marine and each grab an arm which disarms the target. Luckily for him, his armor protects his limbs enough that he is able to reach for his belt and tosses down a flashbang. This shakes off the beast but ends with him being kicked squarely in the chest by the masked huntress. He winds up falling over a tree root and afterwards Nidalee tosses a net onto him. As the netting starts to constrict and cut at the soldier, he frees himself using a combat knife. Upon seeing this, Nidalee realizes that this must be the human that survived BV-558 and grins at the prospect of his trophy. She tries to skewer the man with a thrust of her spear but has her attack redirected into a tree. While her mask gives her protection from the follow up punch, it doesn't help as much when she gets suplexed. Her cougars siblings would like to help their huntress sister but know how Headhunters get their kills. So instead they start to patrol the area for xenobornes, confident Nidalee can get the kill. The marine then attempts to put the huntress into a chokehold but has it broken when she slams her head back. This shatters the prey's shielding but not before he blinds Nidalee with mud. After both combatants take off their mask and throw them at each other, they can't help but find the other attractive; even if Caleb is covered in bruises and cuts. For the next twenty minutes they continue to try beating the other into submission but eventually succumb to fatigue.

"Getting tired sexy, I mean crazy cat lady?" Caleb taunts Nidalee while avoiding a wild swipe from her spear. He then picks her up and slams the woman into a tree but gets kneed afterwards.

"Not yet, soldier boy." Nidalee counters before slamming her combistaff into his head. Shocked that the predator can speak common, Caleb is unable to block the next attack which stabs his shoulder.

"Fine, kill me if you can but promise me something. There are two women that need help, I need you to save them." Caleb requests of the huntress before ripping out the spear. It then becomes Nidalee's turn to be surprised, from both being headbutted and caution for the hunter's code. The "blooded" woman then puts her spear in the ground and demands the marine explain. He sits down before pulling out the message he received from the Malza-Cathian PMC leader.

"This will help. Be strong though because this will hurt." Nidalee mentions before calling one of her cougars to her. She removes a tube device from a pouch before snapping it in two. Before Caleb can question her actions, Nidalee injects him with the healing shards. Caleb is barely able to bite on his glove before a searing pain consumes his body. "I can't let you take our technology. But I would like to help you Mr. Caleb."

"Caleb is fine. Also I didn't plan on giving them it, only fooling them into thinking I was. By the way, what's your name?" The marine asks as the last of his wounds heal. When he stumbles up, Nidalee introduces herself and her companions, Alyx and Ryo. When Caleb asked why alien cougars had Runeterran names, Nidalee simply responded that she was born there.

Several years ago, Nidalee was the main administrator for a colony when it came under attack by xenoborne. After helping get everyone off world, she joined with the Headhunters that arrived and helped kill a Gath queen. From then on she was marked as a blooded hunter and points to her forehead scar. The Headhunter is then treated to a story from Caleb, about what exactly happened on BV-558. He tells her of how it was his first mission and how a Headhunter ship attacked them. The CLAC were scattered from there but despite that, with extreme luck and skill, Caleb managed to survive. Nidalee even tells him it's okay when he mentions how he had to kill Headhunters to live. Afterwards his ship was captured by Graves himself and from there he made his deal. The huntress then hugs him, as soon he starts to cry at both his weakness and Quinn's plight. Soon the tears stop and Caleb's last words before passing out are "So beautiful.". Nidalee then gently places the exhausted soldier onto the darker alien cat's, Ryo's, back.

(Can we eat this one sister?) Ryo asked while pawing at Nidalee's arm. She manages to stifle a laugh before disappointing the alien cat with a no.

It is already night when Caleb finally reawakens inside of a cave with Nidalee and the cougars on watch. She also found the time to scavenge for him an extra pulse rifle, several grenades and flashbangs, a M39 submachine gun, a M4A4 pistol, and a new helmet to replace his old one.

"Thank you Nidalee. Though I still can't quite figure out why you're helping me or being so nice." Caleb notes while checking his ammunition. Nidalee then takes a seat next to him and the two stare into the fire before them.

"At first I tried to hunt you because I saw easy prey, then I saw worthy prey, and after that I saw someone who needed to live and had a nice face, even if it was busted. It's also nice to have someone around who compliments you. A lot of the other Headhunters don't even see me as equal." Nidalee adds with a hint of sadness before curling up her knees to her chest. Caleb scoots in a bit closer and when he asks, "Why is that?", she simply answers, "Because I'm human.", before putting her head on his shoulders. The twin gently replies to this with a simple, "Is that really such a bad thing?", as they get back up to prepare.

After Caleb puts on the helmet, Ryo and Alyx roar into the darkness as a small horde of Sai charge their camp. Between the net traps, massive amounts of gunfire, and cougar claws, Nidalee and Caleb are able to push back the invaders. The huntress then pushes a few buttons on her wrist and afterwards a Headhunter ship appears. With it they fly to the overrun pyramid and disembark, but not before leaving the cougars onboard. Since they left the cougars behind, Nidalee and Caleb can advance into the dark temple using stealth. Inside they find that the ancient structure has been outfitted with lots of electric equipment and amenities. This doesn't alleviate the feeling of being inside of a nest of pure evil though, which is only made worse somehow by the lacking of xenoborne. The only two explanations are either the hoard is deeper in the hive or attacking in mass somewhere. Eventually the pair are able to find the power grid the corporation installed and turn it back on. While this illuminates the temple, it also turns on the emergency protocols and causes sections to become shut off. Through the nearby blast doors, the intruders can hear a buzzing and growling sound approaching them. At first they think the acid proofed doors might hold out for a while, until a pair of scythe like claws start to pierce them.

"Damn it! We need to get out of here and quickly. Nidalee come here and I'll boost you into the vent." Caleb tells the huntress before they manage to escape the room at the last second. The last thing he sees in the room is a massive purple and black xenobourne with insect wings and razor sharp claws.

As the pair begin to crawl through the vents, those same claws begin to stab into them. Eventually the xenoborne grows tired of taking blind stabs and rams it's head into the path of the pair. While Nidalee holds it back with her spear's shaft, Caleb unloads an entire clip of his pistol into the monster's face. This dazes the beast enough that it falls back out of the ventilation but doesn't seem to kill it. With their pursuer deterred, the soldier and Headhunter continue crawling to a new location. However the commotion they caused doesn't go unnoticed and soon another Zix blocks their path. Nidalee quickly kills this one but it's blood causes the section she was on to fall. Caleb is forced to watch his companion fall into an abyss but nevertheless jumps in after her. He winds up going down a slide like passage and arrives at the center of the pyramid. The marine arrives in time to shoot off a facehugger from Nidalee's still form. Before he can check the huntress vitals, a loud roar shakes the chamber. This manages to snap Nidalee awake and draws their attention to the source of the noise. Flickering spotlights reveal a twenty feet tall xenoborne queen with an extra set of pincer ended arms and spikes jutting from her shoulders. She raises her seven pronged crested head high and roars again at the intruders. Apparently when she crashed into the room, Nidalee accidently destroyed several eggs. Seeing the queen, the huntress tries to get up but finds a shard of metal in her left thigh.

"It's okay Nidalee, I've got this one." Caleb says before giving her a thumbs up and a smile. He then takes the chance to note the circular chamber when the lights stay on. All around are various large machines that seemed to serve the purpose of holding back the queen.

"Oh no, I trust you and like you Caleb but I'm not letting you do this alone. I'm just as good a Headhunter as the next, no matter my species. Now let's do this." Nidalee proudly declares before tearing the piece of metal out of herself. From the ceiling, Zix lurkers begin to crawl down from the ceiling to protect their queen.

"Ha! Well then, let's squash some bugs." Caleb confidently declares before checking his rifle.. With the limping huntress by his side and thirty nine rounds left in his rifle, Caleb simply notes that, "He likes their odds.", before opening fire.

(Main)

Caleb is now relaxing on one of the manors many balconies, drinking some iced tea while watching the sunset. He is now in a modified school uniform with a long jacket that has a chain on the shoulder, a peaked cap with a golden badge that has an eagle and serpent on it, and an armored, humanoid version of Levia beside him. The Hooded yawns a bit and barely catches the Roc flying in from a distance. Finishing his tea in one chug, Caleb returns to the Multiversal Mirror chamber.

'Well my whiny bitch, have you decided? Which orphan girl or girls with issues will you try to woo? Shouldn't be too hard right? After all, I hear that meeting the parents is the wor.. Ahk!" Levia is quickly shut up when Caleb punches her in the face. She then starts cursing for a solid minute, both about Caleb's lack of humor and how the room let's him touch her in this skin.

"I don't like it when people threaten or make rude jokes about those I care about. Also I think I need a bit of time, especially since they're all so amazing. Nidalee is just so nice to me despite the fact I'm no one to her. We both just instinctively have to take care of all the innocent creatures we see from animals to children to Neeko. Not to mention she somehow manages to show up when I need her most. As for Riven, we go back to the war and share an unspoken battle sync. She also promised me then that if we both survived then in time she'd show me how to live. But I'm willing to put that aside for a bit if it means I can help her find peace. Oh but Sona, she is able to find the humanity in me and bring me back. Plus it feels like we were meant to meet since I was the one who gave up everything to save her mom Lestara. I even gave her the ability to get past my mental barriers and touch my mind whenever she wants. Seriously fuck me because it doesn't help they're all great and total bombshells." Caleb lists off before leaving the Mirror in his normal look. Eventually he decides to leave it to future Caleb before going to bed. Meanwhile, sneaking into the manor is the Sleipnir Squad who have a special and small someone with them. After surviving a jigsaw style trap building, the four champions have taken it upon themselves to care for a brown and puffy bat vastayan baby they found.

As for the other multiverses, we see Riven nervously waiting in a large pool opposite of Ashe and Tryndamere. The judges are about to disqualify her when from high diving a gurgling roar is heard. It's quickly followed by a splash as Caleb, with the sun at his back, dives into the pool to help. Inside of the xenoborne temple, a loud whining noise is heard throughout it as well as a massive explosion. Kha'zix quickly makes his way into the queen's chamber, only to find her head netted to what was once a flamethrower turret. While the huntress and the marine have disabled every other xenoborne in the area due to their victory, Kha'zix is not done evolving yet. On the masquerade plane, Jhin reveals himself while Sona takes in the faceless children around her. Caleb is able to sense her anger but can only hold her since on the mortal plane he can not truly act without orders. He wipes away her tears before she gives him an order, 'Cut his head off and tear out his guts!', which makes Caleb go Dark for her.

Sleipnir Squadron Shorts: Operation Cake Eater

By Ironport in Zaun, a circle of shadows opens in the air and Aki in his casual attire steps out. The teenager looks around the docks before realizing a certain robotic woman isn't with him. Meanwhile up in Piltover, an orb of electric energy appears on the Rising Howl bridge before leaving Cathy behind. The digitally immortal woman looks around the bridge before realizing Aki isn't with her. She catches the next descent on the mighty lift before making a call on communicator. The pair of Sleipnirs proceed to then have a quick back and both on various topics. These range from needing to sync teleports, how they'll meet up again, and Cathy's fear of most creepy crawlies. Eventually the cybernetic woman hangs up and steals a muscle car to meet up with Aki. Meanwhile, the Shadow Wurm has taken to asking around the docks for directions to Leonardo's Bakery.

"Hey do you guys know how to get to Leonardo's Bakery? I'm not too familiar with town and was wondering if I could get some directions." Aki politely asks a trio of chempunks hanging out on some crates. When they ask him how he looks so healthy, the Shadow Wurm responds simply with "Diet, exercise, and all that stuff." before realizing "And you guys are going to try to harvest my organs aren't you?". To answer his question, two dozen of their friends emerge from the surrounding alleys and walkways.

A half hour later, Cathy is heading towards Ironport when a convoy of cars pass her and in the back of the lead SUV is Aki. She notices that he has several bruises on his face and immediately does a U-turn. When the pickup truck and motorcycle in the back are cut off from the rest at a light, Cathy makes her move.

"I can't believe this prick in the back managed to kill eighteen of us. Good thing we caught ourselves a hero. You're gonna regret this later, should've let us kill that bitch and ran. Fucking idiot" The driver of the car, a fat man named Jameson with augmented arms, mocks Aki over his capture. Harry, a lanky and shimmer addicted punk holding Aki at gunpoint, tells Jameson to hurry up.

"Cool your tits Harry. Besides it's not like Jameson's fatass is going to miss dinner, haha! Oi Tiana, what bell is it?" A bald and fit man, named Charles, asks the petite blonde behind him while enjoying the breeze from his window. She pulls out a pocket watch and informs her compatriots that it's five from eight bells. At that very moment, a speeding muscle car rams into the SUV and the various passengers' thoughts range from "Shit!", "Who the fuck hit us?!", "Cathy!", "Son of a whore!", and "Ionian!".

Due to the collision, Harry's pistol is lost and Aki renews his fight with the gangsters. Cathy attempts to pursue the now speeding SUV until she finds herself pinned between two sedans. On Aki's end, we find him sitting on the center console while simultaneously kicking and punching Harry and Tiana into their seats. When Charles tries to interfere, the former ninja grabs the wheel and veers them left. This not only flings Charles off him but also slams the back of his head into a passing truck. The Cyber Pilot eventually breaks free of the pincer maneuver and starts her counter attack. Ramming the car on her right results in it careening into a local theatre entrance. Her other pursuer starts to trade rams with her before she succeeds in forcing it to hit a street lamp. Shoving the sounds of chaos and civilians out of her head, Cathy whips the intersection and continues pursuing Aki. Using her incredible driving skills, Cathy catches up to the SUV but suddenly comes up fire. As it would happen, the pickup truck and motorcycle from earlier have managed to catch up. From the passenger window of the truck, a man with a double barrel shotgun shatters the windows of Cathy's car. When he gets close enough to try and get a clean shot off, Cathy pulls out her new machine pistol. Rapidly pounding on the roof, the truck's driver hits the brakes and avoids being sprayed in bullets. With her attention focused so much on the truck, Cathy is barely able to avoid the motorcyclist's gunfire. The rider keeps spraying bullets at Cathy's car until eventually they run out. Unfortunately for them it's right next to Cathy and she rams their bike out from under them. This leads to the gangster clinging for dear life to the cyber pilot's car while she tries to shove him off. Eventually she grows sick of this and pulls the unwanted passenger's upper half into the car. Cathy then unloads a clip of bullets into the cyclist's helmet before dropping them on the road. Checking in on Aki's situation, he has a dazed Tiana in the back and Harry with his seatbelt acting as a noose along with a broken right arm. The blonde tries to choke Aki from behind, but he winds up throwing her back into the row. Slamming his body into Harry, Aki then starts to kick Tiana until eventually she crashes out the window. She winds up suffering a broken neck and skull upon hitting the road before a passing carriage ends her. With the cyclist dealt with, Cathy now can turn her attention back to the shotgunner truck. After using up his rounds blowing her door off, Cathy takes advantage of this and rams her car into the truck. This causes the gunner to accidentally drop his shells and gives Cathy time to reload. With her right arm steering, the Cyber Pilot puts a fresh magazine into her mouth, empties the old one, replaces it and finishes the reload with a slam on the dash. As the shotgunner finishes fumbling with his shells, Cathy unloads her entire clip into the truck. With the horn wailing and the truck crashing into a brick wall, Cathy knows the last of her opposition is dead. With everyone around him dying, Jameson's last line of defense is Harry who is trading blows with the captive. Harry being a shimmer addict helps here as it gives him a tolerance to pain. Eventually he winds up overcommitting to a kick and breaks another window. Using this chance, Aki takes Harry's leg and drags his achilles tendon across the broken glass. With the last defender in agony, Aki slams his head onto Jameson's head until he's unconscious before opening the hatch. Aki finds Cathy driving in close to the now runaway car and jumps to join her. Helping Aki into her car, Cathy quickly slams onto the brakes and watches the SUV get rammed by a dump truck. Getting out of the car, the pair of Sleipnirs look to each for a bit before they start laughing and giving dap.

"That shit was crazy! We almost died so horribly and look at that Cathy, we managed to make it to Leonardo's." Aki excitedly points to the old Zaunite bakery past the flipped and now burning Suv. Pulling out a sack of gold from Cathy's stomach compartment, the pair go on to buy a massive marble cake and neapolitan ice cream cake for Caleb's birthday party. Saying goodbye to the old baker, Cathy and Aki teleport back to C's manor with the good in tow. Upon arriving back the pair notice C returning with more guest and injuries of his own.

Mission Success!

A/N AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This took way longer than I would have liked but it is done. Btw all the named weapons in the Headhunter Au come straight from AVP sources, all the mask types are things, and I didn't go too in detail with the Pool Party skins because you can see some of them in various splash arts and I got PTSD from the Chaos vs Order short. Please do think carefully and feel free to vote in the Caleb Shipping poll in my Profile or go to AO3 and use the link there. Also please make requests on what you'd like to see next, be it more Multiverse stories, Sleipnir missions, past Hooded adventures, or even champions you'd like to see. Seriously I kind of live or die over her based on requests or if something randomly comes up I wanna do. But I do like designing alternate looks and stories so don't be shy on what you ask for and I'll get around to doing it. As always thank you for reading, stay safe out there, don't feed, Rip and Tear, check out LycanthropeSpirit's stories as she helps me or if you like Vi stuff, and I hope to see you all soon.


	6. REcall

A/N Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, I'm back after months of not being here. I got caught up with a lot of stuff IRL cause of the plague and also I lost a lot of motivation with LOL between Honor being a mess, player base being seemingly worse by the day, and Yone killing the lore for me. Anyways I hope you all are doing well, staying safe, having fun, breathing, and enjoy the chapter.

Starring: Monte Ardire (The Gunner), Camille Ferros, Eliza Ferros, Caitlyn, "San" Gwen, Caleb, Nita (The Abandoned), The Nameless One (The Slave), Hayate (The Master), Danbi (The Saint), Germaine (The Hunter), Chereese (The Purifier), Abelardo (The General), Alexandria (The Eccentric), Ida (The Knight), Lady Hell and Levia

* * *

Inside of his study, Caleb has been struggling to decide which of his love interests to follow up on. He has even gone so far as to trap himself in the room and use a whiteboard to list pros and cons for each. Staring at the wall with Sona, Nidalee and Riven's names scribbled on it, he finally comes to a conclusion.

"You know what, fuck it! I can't choose any of them over the others. I guess I'll just see how they react to me telling them and we can try to work it out from there." Caleb rants to himself as a bored Levia glares at him. As she's about to taunt Caleb about his decision making, an infernal circle of runes appears in the air near them. The ring then forms a fiery window to Hell and C summons the Betwixt blade in response.

Appearing in the flames is a woman with a graying mane of hair and a slight smile on her gracefully aged face. Her attire consists of a gray hooded poncho over a matching set of urban camouflage fatigues and leather jacket. A revolver rests in her shoulder holster while a pair of chains give the impression of a belt.

"Guten tag Pumpkin. We've been watching you especially closely lately because of certain rumors. Rumors about you wanting to be in a relationship, are they true?" The dark skinned woman asks with a gruff accent. Caleb quickly dispels his weapon and pulls his gamer chair up to the window.

"Hello Nita, always nice to see you. As for your question the answer is yes, as a matter of fact I've just decided to try being with all of them. Please don't be mad at me for being unable to pick just one." Caleb tentatively informs and pleads with his Hellbound mentor. As he starts to look down in remorse, Nita does what any parent would choose and lifts spirits. She summons her mighty goedendag to lift his chin and gives him a big approving smile.

"My dear child, you follow that squishy mass of meat in your chest if it makes you happy. By the way how did the seven year rule I tell you go?" Nita inquires before summoning a throne of obsidian and demon bones to mirror Caleb. In a bout of excitement, Caleb grabs his whiteboard and starts to show it to his mentor.

"Well Sona falls on the lower end of it, Riven is as old as me, but Nidalee breaks it." Caleb informs The Abandoned, who simply hums in acknowledgement. Remembering something important, the younger Hooded asks his predecessor where Annabelle might be.

"I'll ask Eccentric in a bit and she'll most likely be back later. Now Pumpkin, I don't know anything about romance or lovey dovey things but listen to me. No matter what happens you better treat them right, but don't be a simp about it. Now stop being a pussy and go confess to them before twinkle shit on his mountain, your foxy cousin, a walking mop, blade dancing hoe, a literal giant pussy, or rainbow lizard beat you to it. Laters." Nita advises her apprentice before closing the window. She then turns around to face a young maiden in pink southern belle attire. This little lady just so happens to also be the avatar of this plane's version of Hell, and a frenemy of Nita's.

"So the escapee has found love huh? Too bad you aren't there to see it." Hell taunts Nita before picking up a strange creature with the body of a hippo and the head of a crocodile to pet. Nita simply gives her sore loser friend the bird in response and leaps off the top of Hell's mighty castle.

Nita's current destination is a small town built from the ruins surrounding keep, a refuge for the Hooded amongst the circles. The Abandoned enters a bit of a free fall before her body is enveloped in a crackling aura of black, gold, and red Oblivion Energy. With it the Noxian woman uses her Spectral Form to become weightless before gliding with her poncho. From this high up, she is able to quickly notice a small army of various demons approaching the town. Veering towards the horde, Nita then slows down as a green ethereal ball rockets into the sky before crashing into the trespassers.

Standing in a newly formed crater, a mountain of a man is currently kneeling on a balor with his massive halberd. He is covered from head to toe in noxian steel plate armor with the most striking feature being a stoic, metal mask. As General emerges from the pit, a large snake woman teleports behind him and starts to constrict him with her tail. Before the marilith can try to stab him with her many arms though, Abelardo easily breaks free of her vice. She is unable to recover before General grabs and crushes her skull with one hand. The invaders start to part from the human as he emerges. Eventually one of the demons becomes brave enough to attack, only to be skewered. Seeing they can't take him in singles combat, the horde decides to rush the Hooded. He simply smiles and starts to glow with an emerald, amber, and pink aura of personal energy, for him it's Conqueror Energy.

On the roof of a nearby adobe, a man and woman are drinking tea while playing Noxus Hold'em poker. The lady danbi is dressed in her shrine maiden outfit with a uchikatsugi hiding her foxy features. Glancing at the battle, Danbi summons an orb of golden light and starts to consider helping the General. While the eight tailed fox vastayan doesn't like fighting, it doesn't mean the Saint is above helping her allies. When Abelardo starts to become buried under the enemy and casualties, she throws her star orb to him. Upon landing the ball expands around the polearm master, pushing the bodies away and shielding him. Proud of helping her descendent, the red tailed fox returns to the game and declares "Royal Flush." to her mentor.

"Danbi, put down the shield and let him fight. You know Abelardo likes to fight on his own when he can." Her predecessor, Master, reminds his protegee before sipping from his tea cup. Saint is then quick to slap the cup out of his hand upon recognizing the smell of sake. Seeing that he is caught, Hayate stands up and starts stretching. After brushing off his blue haori, he quickly runs off the edge of the adobe. Before touching the ground, Hayate's eyes glow light blue and a nimbus appears beneath him. Manifesting a katana of wind, he rides forward to both aid General and avoid confrontation about his drinking habits.

Just before Hayate can cut down a fiend or Danbi can charm him back to her, something stops them. That something being two massive hands made of darkness which gently envelope them both. When they can see again, they quickly find themselves sitting back on the roof with a new pair of women. One is Chereese, the Templar, who is giving the duo an extremely annoyed look. However it's the woman riding her back that has both Hooded apologizing like crazy after stopping them. Dressed in nothing more than a tattered tan cloak, ragged trousers and with broken chains dangling from her wrist, the original Hooded look upon her descendents with disappointment.

"Danbi, Hayate, you both know that I don't like it when we argue amongst ourselves. Now I love giving you children freedom to do as you please but unless it's absolutely needed, don't fight." The nameless shuriman woman ends with a note of maternal authority. Saint and Master upon hearing this are quick to make up their differences and apologize again.

Chereese then moves to the roof's edge and sits the legless Slave down next to her. Once she is comfortable, the Templar then summons a railgun made of white and black sentinel sun stone. As she begins to charge up a large blast, the nameless one puts a hand on the silent purger's arm. When asked if she has faith in her protegee, Templar can only glare down at the shuriman for even suggesting otherwise. Looking towards the battle, Chereese sees Abelardo dispatch an ape-like creature with ease. It's moments like these where she can't help but take pride in the strong man who was once a crippled boy. In a rare moment of joy, the always visible and angry eyes of the Templar soften as she dissipates her current weapon.

Knowing it's her time to be in the spotlight, a demonic being with a ram for a head and two snakes for arms crash lands onto the roof. While all the other Hooded ignore this development, the creature starts to violently seize before it's chest explodes. A massive fountain of blood erupts from the gaping wound before it starts a routine similar to the Bellagio Fountains. Eventually the high pressure blood starts to transform into freshwater mid performance. Even that begins to then transmute, upon touching the ground, into shield beetles that fly in a spiral formation. In the middle of this chaotic emerald twister a platform starts to rise, on it is the star of this introduction. She is a shorter woman dressed like a stage magician in a Hood of infinite and constantly changing colors. In her hands is her ever trust staff that ends in a star and a microphone, Star Power. Now please put your hands together dear reader, because ladies and gentlemen, Eccentric has arrived.

But before Alexandria can get off her first line of the new saga though, a loud banging noise is heard beneath her. From beneath her platform a massive cobalt lance erupts and nearly impales the fragile mage. The pole weapon then splits down the middle, and using them similarly to jaws of life, it's wielder prys open a hole. Putting her weapon back together, Knight emerges but freezes when a beetle lands on her hand. Due to a small phobia from her fights with the Void, the hextech warrior starts to swat wildly at the harmless insects. The other Hooded beings notice this and are quick in chasing off the bugs. Ida then kneels for a bit and starts to nervously touch her face. Upon reaffirming she has flesh and no tentacles, the Knight jumps back up and sucker punches Alexandria. Feeling better and with Nita arriving, Ida helps to move Eccentric and give the Abandoned a landing spot on the now crowded roof.

See everyone distracted by Nita and Eccentric's condition, a man in a top hat and tan raincoat makes his move. With petricite war scythe in hand, he tries to cut down Templar only to be stopped by her equinox shotgun. As the Hooded clash, Hunter exerts enough force to snap his weapon's blade off against the firearm. Knowing what comes next, Chereese's attempt to evade fails as a surge of magic explodes from the shaft. While she can take a hit, it doesn't stop the Templar from being blown off the roof and onto the nearby battlefield. With his prey leaving his range, the Hunter quickly attaches a new blade and jumps after his target. This proves to be an error as he is nearly shot down once Chereese opens fire with her CME minigun. Taking a page from a certain icathian troll, Germaine rapidly spins his scythe to block the incoming barrage. Needing to regroup, Germaine pulls out a green vial from his Hood and shatters it on the ground in front of him. From the puddle a wall of vines forms and regenerates whenever they suffer damage. Feeling her blood boiling, Chereese's left hand burst into flames before she summons a pillar of flames on the wall of plants. When the inferno finally dissipates, Germaine has left both his hiding spot and the Templar in surprise. Moving in to investigate, the Templar only finds a blue vial that starts to violently shake before exploding into steam. This attack would have scalded Chereese's face if she hadn't used her pyromancy to push herself back in time. From a pool of shadows that has blended into the recently charred ground, Germaine throws a black vial. Using the steam as cover, his vial smashes behind Chereese and opens the same pool behind her. With the newly made opening, Germaine hooks a Coercion line onto the Templar and starts to drag his prey into the shadows. When her flame jet doesn't stop the pull, Chereese instead summons her SW ballista and fires into the ground. Grabbing onto the large bolt, the Templar is able to stop herself from being dragged into the pool. Needing some extra help pulling her in, Germaine tosses a dark purple vial on the edge of the second portal. Upon it shattering, the spacial magic within mixes with previous shadow magic to simulate a black hole. Even the light slinger is unable to escape this event horizon and is pulled into the shadow pool. Cracking his war scythe across the Templar's face before leaving, the Hunter closes the portals behind himself. But before the portals can fully close, a bright pillar of lights erupts from the original hole. Eventually it refines into a greatsword of pure celestial flame and with it Chereese escapes her prison. Now with Flare greatsword in hand, and body wrapped in yellow, red, and blue Nova Energy, the Templar is ready to continue.

"Alright! I concede! Can't believe you had to bust out the NE on little old me." Germaine quickly tells Chereese to calm her down. The Templar powers down and accepts his surrender with a shmile and a handshake. They are then quickly joined by General, who is holding a strange anteater and snake hybrid in a torture rack hold. After he shatters the last demon's spine, the trio all Coercion line back onto the roof to rejoin the others. While Abelardo goes to talk with Danbi about interfering, Chereese and Germaine take a seat before the nameless one.

"Good match you two. Germaine you almost had her a few times and I loved how creative you got. As for you Chereese, I'm glad you chose to try and win without your personal energy." Slave notes while now riding Knight's back. The pair both show their appreciation, Hunter with a thanks and Templar with a nod, before leaving to get drinks.

"Well everyone, my protegee is going to try and make it work with all of them. If anyone has something they wanna say then say it now!" Nita says in an almost daring tone before turning to Alexandria. "Oh and Gwen has been asking about Annabelle." As the sorceress tries to sneak away and fails.

"Fine Nita! I'll give her back but you've gotta help me gather this water up. I'm gonna pull a Jesus and turn it into wine as a gift for Gwen. To be fair, I don't know how much longer she can handle being on her own. Plus we've had enough fun, right darling?" Eccentric asks Annabelle before pulling the panting yordle ghost from her Hood. As the pair start to mop up the rooftop, Alexandria notices something. "Hey wait, if Stripy was introducing us then where's Monte?"

Back in the material plane, after an uneventful day of investigations, Caitlyn has decided to visit her grandmother's manor. Making her way inside, the private investigator finds her elder sitting on the second floor balcony. The old woman is simply dozing off while holding an old picture in her hands.

"Grandma it's me Caitlyn. I came by to see how you've been doing." The indigo haired woman announces to her blind relative after gently waking her. Putting her new hextech rifle down, Caitlyn looks out towards the sunset and takes in the lovely view.

"Oh Caity it's you! I am so happy you came by. Forgive my poor hosting, I'm sure I can whip you up some quick food or perhaps some tea. So how was your birthday? How are your parents?" The old woman asks while smiling the whole time. She then brushes a hand over her photo before gently putting it down on the table.

"It was good grandma. As for my parents they're doing well these days, busy but good. Also you don't have to do that. Grandmother would you be so kind as to tell me what that photograph was of?" The private investigator asks after her detective instincts finally give in. The old blonde simply smiles and pushes the sepia picture to her granddaughter. In the photo is a young Eliza and a man around her age with a vintage undercut in a three piece suit.

"It's of me and your grandfather a year after we met. Stevan and Camille might have hated him but I suppose that only added to his charm. We had such a wonderful time together and I'd do it all over again if I had the chance. Caity I've never told anyone this but I'm so tired. I've lived so long but it seems that everyone around me passes on. Sometimes I just want to look into my husband's eyes again and be with him." The old woman confesses with more than a hint of sorrow. Caitlyn can't stand to see her elder so downtrodden and comes up with a plan to help. "Maybe you could tell me some stories about grandfather?"

"I suppose that could be fun. Well I remember it was fall and I was walking home when I noticed the weather was turning sour. So I tried to take a nearby alley as a shortcut and that's where I found him. He was just lying there with blood all over his suit and a large burn mark on his stomach. From there I took him to the hospital and spent the next two weeks visiting him." Eliza tells Caitlyn as she starts to reminisce about the past. Nearly sixty years ago she met the love of her life but she can still remember it better than even yesterday.

On that day sixty years ago, a young man was smoking in the second floor window of a zaunite warehouse. He looks to the group of over thirty people below him, each preparing their own guns and blades. Putting a hand through his indigo hair, Monte still can't believe he was able to even gather this many to his cause. His plan is to make their way to the Bluewind Court via an abandoned gongola station. Hopefully from there the big wigs in Piltover will be willing to negotiate fair labor contracts with Zaun. If all else fails, they still have an assortment of pistols and shotguns for leverage and protection. Plus Monte figures that if even the guns fail he'll still have his secret weapon. At that moment his hands start to leak the crystalline orange, lime green, and brown energy he recently gained after falling into the canal. Taking a deep breath, Monte shakes off his jitters, checks his revolver, and disperses his Revolutionary Energy. As the clock rings twelve bells, Monte leaps down and starts to lead the zaunites' march. Along the way he starts to notice one of the men acting nervous and falls back to them.

"Hey there pal. What's eating you up?" Monte asked before putting his arm around the teen's shoulder. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean what happens if we get into a fight?" The boy named Antonio nervously asks their group's leader. "Of course it is! As for the whole fighting business, just let your instincts take over and let me lead you guys to victory. Oh and before you ask how I know if I can do that, fucking instincts." The young Gunner tells his not so faithful follower.

Arriving just before the next bell passes, the zaunites give their weapons one last check before heading inside. Originally this building was built along the cliff as a means of transporting engineers up and down the canyon during the canal's construction. The plan is for the marchers to take the central staircase and gondola lifts inside to reach Piltover undetected. Making his way back to the front, Monte smiles at the fact they're ahead of schedule and is one of the first to enter the building. As soon as the Zaunites enter the building however everything immediately goes fubar. Currently on their way down the steps is an equally large and armed group of Piltover wardens. Monte's suit barely has time to transform into makeshift plate armor before both sides panic and open fire. Less than a minute later and over two thirds of both sides are already dead. What remains of both groups have managed to hide behind the pillars decorating the foyer. For a brief bit it turns into a bloody stalemate, until one of the gondolas arrives. From the side, a squad of fresh wardens arrive and provide cover fire for the few remaining allies they have. Seeing this turn of events, and needing to turn the tide, Monte summons a ball of his energy. He then lobs the sphere into the metal tube before it starts to grow unstable. IIn the last moment before it explodes, Monte realizes his mistake, that there is too much power in his attack. After a massive explosion, the entire building floods with dust and debris as both sides are routed. Among the bodies, an injured Antonio rises up in time to see a warden execute a zaunite. Locking eyes, a now bloodied Antonio quickly runs outside as fast as his mangled foot will allow. As the warden gives chase, Monte wakes up to his own problem after the explosion. One of the zaunite's makeshift swords was blasted into the revolutionary and is currently embedded across his stomach. But with the last zaunite follower in need of help, Monte ignores his pain and tears out the blade. Getting up and sneaking outside, the Hooded sees the warden standing over Antonio.

"No wait! I was the informant!" The teenager screams just as the warden cocks his pistol. Before he can fire however, Monte stabs the officer in the neck and saves the zaunite. But when Antonio tries to thank Monet, the Gunner executes the traitor and stumbles back.

"Shit man, I told you to trust my instincts. Shit law dogs are coming. I need to get the hell out of here but… what's that? You know how to get me away quickly?" On that note, Monte sticks his arm out towards the top building, and with the word "Coercion", summons a tendril. Said tendril then attaches to the roof and pulls the young Hooded to his desired location. From there Monte avoids warden reinforcements by sneaking his way further north into Piltover along the rooftops.

'Shit this hurts! Come on Monte Ardire, keep going.' The bleeding zaunite thinks before collapsing near the edge of the building he's on. Realizing he needs to close his wound, Monte covers his hands in his energy and cauterizes the gash. This proves to be too draining for the young Hooded however and causes him to fall off the roof into the nearby alley. As Monte falls, he's barely able to launch a Coercion line to slow himself down.

'Well I guess this is it huh? I can't move anymore. Shit and the sky is gray. Come on Janna you couldn't let me see the sun before I died? I got out of that Grey infested hole just to see more before I die.' Are the indigo haired man's last thoughts before blacking out. Around the corner, a platinum blonde woman dressed in her artificer uniform looks at the sky and decides to take a shortcut home.

"Over the next couple of weeks at the hospital we became friends because of a mutual love of machinery we had. But Camille and Stevan hated the idea of me becoming so close to a stranger." Eliza says with a bit of a smirk at annoying her siblings. A few moments later two servants arrive with tea and cakes for Caitlyn and her grandmother.

"I still can't believe someone as sweet as you is related to people like Camille and Stevan. Do you have any more stories of you and grandfather's time together? Maybe one about how to bake these tea cakes?" The investigator asked Eliza before going for said snacks. Eliza goes on to retell how awkward Monte felt when he first met her family a few months later

After spending the last few months learning his abilities and seeing a certain woman, Monte is heading to a protest in Zaun. Hundreds of workers from the hextech processing facilities are currently asking for a larger wage near the Factorywood district. Taking up a position on the nearby rooftops, the Hooded is currently lounging about while watching for trouble. While Monte is worried about the protesters' safety, he's also doing this as a way of passing time for his appointment later. As per procedure, a line of wardens has formed a barrier between the factories and the protesters. While eating some cookies and watching the peaceful protest, Monte spots something moving on the nearby roof. His hopes for it being a random sump snipe are quickly shattered though. From a case, a tall woman in a cloak and gas mask pulls out a rifle and takes aim. She's barely able to get a shot off when suddenly a tendril rips the firearm from her hands. However the damage is already done as one of the officers is hit and everyone is sent into a panic. Seeing this, Monte tucks away the rifle and begins to chase the mystery sniper across the rooves. This quickly proves to be harder than expected as she then uses a grappling hook to descend the side of a building. Armoring up, the Hooded then jumps off after her and uses Revolutionary Energy to help break his fall. Maneuvering past the chaos between protesters and officers, the pair's chase ends up taking them near the Wharfside Docks.

"Stop running right now!" Monte yells as a warning before firing a flintlock at the woman's feet. Swapping out to a revolver, the Hooded slowly approaches the cloaked stranger before asking, "Why did you shoot into the crowd back there?".

"My motives are not your concern." Is all the mystery woman says before roundhouse kicking at Monte. This only confuses the Hooded because he's made sure to stay outside of her immediate range, until Monte sees a glint.

From near her foot, a curved blade juts out and cuts a wide space in front of her. This forces Monte to fling himself backwards to narrowly avoid the blade cutting his throat. The lobster armored Hooded barely manages to turn over in time to block an axe kick with his revolver. Sweeping out her feet, Monte then rolls away and pulls out another revolver to aid his parrying. He is then constantly pushed to the defensive but manages to find an opening to attack. The Hooded manages to move in toward his attacker and grabs onto one of her feet mid kick. He manages to pistol whip her in the face but is forced to let go when she improvises a corkscrew kick. Getting knocked down, Monte tries to shoot the woman while she's on the ground with her back to him. To his shock, in a feat of sheer grace, speed, and skill, she does a prone kip up over Monte and pulls a trigger to fully extend her blades midair. This maneuver forces Monte to literally bend over backwards as she flies over him with her custom shon-xan footed glaives. He does manage to succeed but winds up getting his helmet nicked across the cheek. While this close, he can barely see a familiar pair of icey blue eyes under the stranger's gas mask. Not one to be distracted by the feeling of nostalgia over him, Monte quickly opens when his opponent lands. Finally forced into a disadvantageous situation, the mystery woman pulls out a smoke bomb and throws it down. After the area clears of smoke, the zaunite attempts to look for the sniper but is unable to find her. While he is investigating though, Monte is able to find a few droplets of the stranger's blood where he opened fire. Pulling out a stopwatch, Monte sees it's almost thirteen bells and decides to rush towards his first appointment. He is barely able to make it on time to the new gun shop, Shot in the Gray, and place his order before his next appointment. After breaking into a bath house and cleaning up, Monte takes the Rising Howl and finds a carriage waiting for him topside. It's around eighteen bells by the time he arrives in the Bluewind Court, a district where only the most prestigious of even Piltover can live. As he fixes up his suit, Monte looks out the window and can't help but notice all the differences between the Sumps and here. It would be especially hard for anyone to not notice the lack of litter, beggars, general peacefulness, and he can't help but feel a bit disgusted by it. Eventually his ride stops in front of the magnificent Ferros Clan mansion, where Eliza is awaiting him in a long purple gown. Seeing how beautiful she looks, Monte can't help but wish that his suit would stop eating his other clothes.

"Are you nervous? I can tell them you got held up at umm where do you work again?" Eliza inquires of her sweating friend. "At a trade company." Is all Monte can splutter out before taking his hat off and fanning himself.

After helping Monte get over his panic attack, the two walk inside and make their way to the main dining hall. Awaiting them are Eliza's parents, Rhodri and Gemma, and one of her siblings, Stevan. While the youngest Ferros is giving Monte a constant aura of disgust, his parents seem delighted that their daughter has a friend. The couple then start to embarrass Eliza when they start telling Monte about her introverted lifestyle and childhood. As the middle child begins to desire death, the eldest of the Ferros children arrives.

"Forgive me for my tardiness everyone. I had to take the long route home due to interference at the excavation site. Oh we have a guest. Hello sir, my name is Camille." The Ferros child says as she enters from the kitchen doors. Monte reaches his hand out to greet her but stops when she quickly takes a seat. At first he considers telling her off for being rude but then catches a whiff of a familiar smell, blood, and takes a seat as well.

The evening then passes by without a hitch, even if Monte's nerves almost make him vomit on Stevan's shoes more than once. Seeing it's getting late, Monte decides to leave and Eliza chooses to escort him. As the two near the front gate, the hostess decides to strike up a conversation with her special guest.

"Well that went as well as it could. Also on behalf of Stevan's shoes and myself, thank you for holding yourself together. I suppose being around such highly regarded gentry would make anyone nervous, or perhaps something else made you this way?" Eliza asks with more than a bit of a smirk. The Hooded just figures out what she means when Eliza drunkenly stumbles a bit. Monte catches the noblewoman but blushes a bit from how close the two are. Meanwhile inside of the house, Rhodri is overlooking the entrance while Camille takes a seat in his study.

"I take it you accomplished your mission, despite any unwanted interference?" The patriarch asks of his oldest. "Yes, sir." Camille answers professionally, after all she knows these exchanges are completely business. "Who tried to stop you? Were they a part of another clan?" Rhodri inquires while running through the possibilities in his head. "They were wearing armor but it didn't have any marks on it. It seems they also had a fondness for firearms but lacked any other real combat skills. I completely outclassed them when we faced off." The eldest sibling says with a bit of a smile. "OH, so you killed him and they're gonna be in the papers as a corpse that washed up in the canal? Or did you get shot and run away as soon as it happened?" The clearly disappointed and annoyed father says while holding back his shouting. Before Camille can respond, Rhodri places a hand on her shoulder and calms down. "Listen Camille, you managed to hide your identity and escaped which I am grateful for and proud of. However, a witness can complicate things and you'll be the clan's chief intelligencer someday. We all need you to avoid making mistakes like this or they can get costly. Next time you see this idiot make sure to finish him and dump his corpse into the canal. That way we can show Piltover, Zaun, and the world just how in charge Clan Ferros is. Dismissed." Camille's father tells her before the ashamed woman responds in the only way she can, "Yes, father."

Back outside, Monte's carriage arrives but before he can leave Eliza has to ask him something important. "Monte wait! I heard a new restaurant is opening up soon, I was hoping you'd go with me?" Closing the carriage compartment, Monte leans out the window and answers with a simple, "Yes." With their time concluded, the pair wave goodbye before he is driven towards the Rising Howl. His confidence also manages to slowly return to him, after all, if it's just the two of them he should be fine.

"My great grandparents died not too long after that if I remember right. It must have been a tough time for you all." Caitlyn recalls as she finishes cleaning the dishes, this way the servants can go home early. The private investigator then helps her grandmother to the bathroom so she can get ready for bed.

"It was a tough time Caity but my Monte helped me through it. I just wish I could say the same for Camille. She started to become obsessed with being the clan's intelligencer after that. I tried to help her and that Hakim gentleman got close but, well you've seen her now. I think her coldness even eventually scared off Monte." The blind woman confesses to her granddaughter as she finishes her bath. When Caitlyn then asks if she ever wondered if Monte elope, Eliza simply gives a light hearted laugh. She does admit that one time she was worried about an elfin woman with a penchant for red, but she was just a good friend.

Deep in the Sump levels of Zaun, Monte is stumbling through a series of alleys while constantly keeping an eye above him. After leaving his newish company for the day, the Hooded left to attack a Hextech production facility. While setting the charges and wondering what to order for his date, a window creaking alerted him to another presence. When he turned to face the figure, a blade nearly took his head off. A second one quickly follows the first and this one cuts across Monte's left eye. Falling onto his back, Monte can do nothing but scream in agony before rolling away. Summoning a pistol, the Zaunite starts to blindfire at his attacker but is more concerned with fleeing. Managing to scramble outside, he quickly attempts to Coercion away on some nearby build. This escape fails though when his attacker begins to follow him with a grappling hook gun. Heading deeper into Zaun, Monte sees a gap in a series of nearby pipes below and tries to thread himself through. It proves to be a nearly fatal decision as his pursuer slams into him midair and causes the Hooded to plummet. The armored man is sent careening and breaks over six ribs as well as his right hand and knee cap. Shambling to a nearby wall, Monte lobs a Revolutionary Energy Grenade into the pipes and seals them shut with an explosion. Using the old and cramp alleyways he grew up in, the zaunite tries to avoid open areas in case of aerial attacks. Eventually his luck and the alleys run out as his exit is cut off by his hunter. Stand there with a heart made of hextech, blade augments in place of shins and feet, and a pair of piercing, augmented eyes that go from orange to their usual piercing blue is Camille. Monte isn't even given a chance to beg when she goes on the attack again. Grabbing him by the head, Camille smashes her target's head against the nearest brickwork repeatedly. Yanking her prey by his now heavily dented helmet, she throws him near the safety railing on the edge of the street and cliff. When Monte tries to pistol whip her, the Steel Shadow grabs his left arm and breaks it before punching him in the face. She then twirls into his body before slamming both knees into his chest and rolling with him. When she's under him, Camille uses her leverage and enhanced strength to propel her foe into the canal below. With her target eliminated, the Ferros intelligencer heads back home for more orders and to report her success.

A mile outside of the city limits, a twisted creature that is part crocodile and beetle with a mouth filled with writhing needles, emerges from the canal. Opening it's massive maw, the chimera vomits up the broken and barely breathing body of Monte. Some movement from the nearby brush draws the beast attention, emerging is a woman. Dressed in a crimson flapper dress and putting her high heels into a satchel is Gwendolen, Monte's secretary from the Ardire Shipping Company. The elfin woman takes a knee besides the broken hooded and checks his vitals.

"Good job Clorbach. Hmm he's definitely weaker than the last but I'm sure I can help with that. Just like your broken umm everything." The redhead with blonde stripes says before pulling out a pair of clawed gloves from her satchel. Putting them on, her hands begin to glow red before she plunges them into the broken man's body.

A week later inside of Gwen's manor near Noxus, Monte wakes up in a king sized back in his suit form and with a strange pink creature looking at him. It looks like a small furry child in a maid outfit and is holding a wet rag. As the creature screams in shock, the Hooded tries to comfort her only for his hands to go through her. Like any good homeowner, Gwen burst into the guest room to see what's happening with her whip drawn.

"Annabelle are you okay?! Oh hey you're awake again. Welcome back to the land of the living." The hemomancer says with a smile before Monte looks away in embarrassment. It takes a bit for the hostess to remember she's without clothes and Annabelle gives her a towel.

"Gwendolen where the hell am I and why are you naked?!" Monte shouts in a fit of annoyance. The last thing he can remember is Camille throwing him into the canal and passing out.

"My house near Noxus Prime and well my house. Also it's just Gwen, I add random bits to it so no one freaks out if I show up in a few decades looking the same." The ancient blood mage adds before telling Monte about how old she is. Upon hearing her real age, the zaunite lays back down in the.

"Okay I'm either dead and in Hell or today has been a really bad dream." Monte groans before Gwen corrects him that it's been a week. With that revelation, the Hooded scramble out of bed and tries to leave before Gwen stops him. "Gwen let me go. I need to let Eliza know I'm okay."

"And let Camille know you're alive?! You go back to Piltover now and she'll kick your ass again. Except instead of needing a hemomancer you'll need a necromancer. So I have a proposition for you." Gwen only agrees to tell the Hooded of her ultimatum if he agrees to it before hearing it. In short, she will train him for at least the next six months in the fighting styles of the Hooded. She'll house him, feed him, teach him, and even give him a day off down the line but he can't return home in the meantime or contact anyone without her permission. Reluctantly the novice Hooded agrees and the two forge a blood pact to seal the deal.

Over the next four and a half months Monte trained in the ways of the Hooded Style. The physical portion of his physical training takes place near the summit of Mount Targon. Here Gwen unleashes barrages of attacks at him, he is to either dodge them or near to take and roll with the attacks that he can't. For his mental training she takes him to a hidden library, inside of the hill this sanctuary is built into Monte learns of the past Hooded. His spiritual training begins once the Hood itself takes him inside of his soul. There the Zaunite looks into who he is and what defines him the most.

"Look into who you are. Tell me what form do you see your energy as?" The Hood asks it's current wearer while in the form of the Knight user. Monte meditates on this question and sees what looks like a cavern of crystals. The next question the Hood asks is what is his worst trait, his best trait, and his core trait.

"I am brash, I've led people to their deaths because I was overconfident. I suppose my best trait might be my reliability, I'm training so hard so I can go back home and be dependable. As for my core, I think it might be my charisma because I have been able to convince people to go along with my ideas since I can remember." With that the crystalline cavern in his mind begins to glow orange, brown and finally lime green. Now knowing what his traits are, Monte can truly train in controlling and using his Revolutionary Energy.

Thinking today will be no different, Monte wakes up and finds Gwen reading a novel on her couch. Annabelle then passes by and offers the Hooded in training a brownie before giving Gwen a Rakkor 675 AN bottle.

"Okay what's going on here? You don't let me eat brownie and we should be on Targon by now… are those pot brownies?!" Monte shouts in disbelief at how casual Gwen is acting after being such a hard ass for months. Taking the bottle from her yordle friend, the hemomancer cuts off the zaunite's incoming rant with a raised finger.

"Ahh that's good wine. Hey Monte, how are you going to spend your day off? After all, what jackass wants to work till they die?" The ancient blood mage asks while sticking her tongue out at the young blood. He inhales a deep breath and quickly leaves to the portal room, he's going home.

One hour later, Eliza is getting dressed to go to the lab and barely finishes putting on her overalls when a knock disturbs her. Storming her way to the front door of her new manor, the Ferros woman prepares to chew out her visitor but stops when she sees who it is.

"You aren't real. Monte died in a fire a few months ago. Tell my siblings to fuck off and that I'm not going back to that mad house they call a home!" The annoyed artificer states before trying to slam the door shut. It's stopped by a thickly armored foot and an equally armed hand holding white and purple snapdragons.

"Eli, let me in so I can explain. I should've come sooner but Camille kind of chased me off. Also these are your favorite right?" Monte somberly asks the Piltover woman, who squints at him and takes the flowers. "You have five minutes." Is all she says before letting him in and taking a seat in the living room.

The zaunite explains how he is actually from Zaun and that he used to be a "revolutionary". Monte then tells her that he really did stop doing it for her and that he was clean until a few months ago. He heard a new factory was dumping gray into his old neighborhood and he impulsively tried to destroy it. From there he tells her of how Camille nearly killed him and how he was saved and trained over the last few months. When she asks him how long he can stay, the Hooded responds that he will be gone by sunrise. The two then go out and enjoy what time they have before Monte resumes his training.

"He eventually left to go finish up his business while I got left with something special. Camille and Stevan were incredibly furious when they found out I was pregnant with your mother. They tried to get me to abort but we were steadfast in keeping her." The elderly woman tells Caitlyn before tucking herself in. Knowing it's time to leave, Caitlyn hugs her grandmother and heads home for the night. As she drifts to sleep, Eliza recalls how Monte proposed to her and they defended their unborn child.

With the young Eliza sleeping in the back of the carriage, Camille steps out to greet the doctors. As soon as she steps out of the carriage however, a pair of chemtech enhanced bullets hit the ground in front of her. Walking down the street with a double barrel submachine gun in hand is a rematch seeking Monte. When the Hooded motions for the Intelligencer to walk with him, Camille tells the driver to wait there and goes along with the Hooded. Just by looking at her foe Camille can already tell that he is not the same fighter from their last encounter. This time around his armor is thicker and more uniformed compared to the mishmash plates from before. Eventually they walk their way to a collapsed building near the edge of Piltover and Zaun.

"You fascinate me with how hard you are to kill. So tell me Monte, are you going to try and shoot me? Are going to tell me about how Piltover is killing Zaun or about how you've been waiting to get your revenge?" The cyborg woman asks in a dismissive tone. Her only reason for even talking is to buy time for Monte to make a mistake.

"Well I'd be lying if I didn't say I was impressed you figured out who I was, only took you a few years. I didn't come for revenge or for Zaun, I came to talk you out of killing your sister and my baby. If you'd like a dowry then I can come up with the money easily." Monte calmly tells the Ferros Intelligencer. As a sign of good faith, the Hooded even dismisses his new Ibex smg and raises his hands.

"At this point it's more of a matter of principle than anything. Do you know how much damage it would bring to clan Ferros' image if word got out about your little bastard's genealogy? For the sake of my clan, sister, and Piltover I can not allow it to be born." Is all the cybernetic woman says before charging Monte. He summons the Ibex back and opens fire but finds his bullets stopping short.

When Camille gets close enough to strike, Monte changes and makes his move. As she tries to go for a roundhouse kick, the Hooded rushes at her and puts her in a double leg takedown. Picking her up, Monte starts to run towards the cliff as Camille repeatedly smashes her elbow into his head. Diving off the cliff, the Intelligencer breaks free and the two start to trade blows while plummeting. After Monte uses a Coercion line to pull Camille into a clothesline, something pops from her thigh. A grappling hook shots sideways into the cliff and pulls the cybernetic woman to safety. Wearing a look of sheer annoyance, the Gunner comes up with a new idea and crashes into the rubble. Cautiously Camille follows after the Zaunite and begins to comb the area. After a bit she finds Monte's point of impact and finds a metallic, earthy toned ball in the center. Throwing a rock at the pod and then dodging behind some rubble, Camille calms down when no retaliation comes. Sneaking as best she can towards the orb, the Ferros woman raises her leg to axe kick it before Monte can react. This backfires when the Zaunite bursts forth from his shell with an orb of Revolutionary Energy in hand. The ensuing blast sends the Steel Shadow flying out onto the nearby street. Snapping onto her feet, Camille dust herself off before Monte emerges from the rubble. Using her grappling hooks, the cyborg slingshots herself at the Hooded faster than he can raise his smg. Seeing she's going for a scissor kick, Monte snaps the Ibex's connector gun shield and using it's twin form blocks both legs. Taking advantage of Camille's awkward position and surprise, the Hooded throws down his weapon and grabs her legs again. Even after she immediately puts him into a guillotine hold, Monte knows he would still prefer she not be able to use her legs. Slamming her into a nearby window, Monte then drags her back across the glass shards it makes. In total agony, Camille holds in her screams before stabbing one of her blades into Monte's helmet and piercing his right eye. Forced to let her go, Monte falls back into the ruins and can only hope his partner is finished on her end. Getting his focus back in the fight, he is barely able to block Camille's striking at his head with a makeshift club of concrete and rebar. Even through his armor, the blow still manages to break his left forearm and knock him down. Needing to end the fight now, Monte waits for Camille to wind up another swing before making his move. As she raises the club to bash in his skull, the Gunner points a handful of bullets at her from between his fingers. With a charge of Revolutionary Energy, he is able to get the bullets to fire and directly hit Camille in the stomach. Dropping her weapon, Camille's cold heart and cool head get overtaken by a burning sensation in her abdomen. Converting his armor into a set of manacles, Monte Coercion lifts Camille and himself back up the cliff to Piltover.

About a half bell later, the two injured and exhausted combatants return to the front of the clinic. Here they find a fully awake Eliza and Gwen waiting for them, one to heal them and the other to scold Camille.

"Sister I think it's time we talked. Monte and me are in love and nothing you or Stevan say or do will change that. We are getting married soon and keeping this baby. I also want you to know that I love you because you're my sister and you've always looked out for me. I sincerely hope that you reconsider your stance on this baby and will be apart of it's life." Eliza tells her sister while holding her slightly bulging tummy. Her speech is slightly ruined however when she notices Camille barely moving. Finishing her work on Monte, Gwen quickly intervenes and resuscitates the heavily bleeding cyborg.

"Don't repeat yourself Eliza. I've heard more than enough of what you had to say. Between Monte and his mage friend here I doubt I'd have much place to argue back. Also I suppose we Ferros women can be stubborn. Now then mage, heal me so I can resume my other duties." The downed cyborg demands before Gwen obliges her. Giving the trio one last disgusted look, Camille grappling hooks away and leaves them to celebrate.

Back in the halls of Hell's Castle in the present, dozens of demonic knights are scattered on the floor with bullet wounds. Walking towards the garden at the top, a middle age man starts to see flashes of his life before his eyes. Of his daughter Isobel being born, her first steps, to finding another child in the noxian sewers, to forming his gang with the first one hundred members, and even the end. The worst day of his life, missing his daughter's wedding, having his gang taken from him, and his student taking his life. Making his way to the end of the Hall of Remembrance, Monte doesn't regret his life one bit and would gladly do it all again. Opening the broad wooden doors leading to Hell's garden, he finds Lady Hell and the aforementioned student waiting.

"Monte, what are you doing? You know we can't let you leave here." Nita warns in a questioning tone before flexing her power a bit. Monte and Hell can't help but look at his protege like she's daft before turning to each other.

"Okay then, well Hell I'd like to commune with the living too. It's my anniversary and I'd like to talk to my wife. I mean you let Nita do it all the time with Caleb and I only wanna do it today." Monte requests with a smile on his face. Hell looks annoyed at the two Hooded before turning to make the necessary runes and a call of her own.

A few hours later and Eliza wakes up to a disturbance in her room. She feels a familiar presence coming from the doorway, the feeling of a Hooded. Waiting for the elderly woman to get up, Caleb can't help but feel annoyed that he was woken up to be a glorified messenger boy.

"Hello Miss Eliza, I'm known as C or the Hooded and I've come with a message. Please come closer to me so I can take you into the Hood for it." The latest in his line says as the old woman put on her slippers. Moving towards the sound of his voice, Eliza carefully walks into the Hood.

Inside of it, Eliza finds herself in a very spartan room filled with some sacks of various coins, board games, an ancient Shuriman translation guide, and a basic literacy teaching manual. Walking to the lone window in the room, she opens it and sees a large amber crystal outside. This surprises her enough to send her fall backwards, only to be caught by a pair of strong and familiar arms. Looking up she is able to see Monte's face and starts to cry as he simply holds her there. Back on the outside, Caleb is relaxing where Eliza left him, especially since he is temporarily blinded by Hell's "special" commune spell. When Levia asks him "How long should we give them?", he simply responds "As long as they need."

* * *

A/N I hope you all enjoyed and sorry for the wait. TBH After this chapter I will be breaking up my stories into 4 routes and it had me nervous, The Main Story, Multiverses, Sleipnir Operations, and Past Hooded. So in my new polls you can vote for on which you'd like me to focus more on. The Main Story is mostly modern day champion interactions, Sleipnir Shorts for the Squad's various missions, Variables and Constants for Multiversal Adventures and skin line AUs and Tales of the Hooded to see Hooded and Champions from various eras in Runeterra's History. Some may even have crossover chapters and chapter lengths in general may be shorter so I don't over work myself or draw out chapters. But yeah I hope you all show me future support as it motivates me to make content and good night, get good at LOL NA!


	7. REconnect

A/N Welcome, welcome, welcome! I'd like to say sorry to the FanFiction readers about not being able to get your working strawpoll links cause of how wonky the site it about links. You can look at my Strawpoll profile named TheStripeyBag to get access to the Favorite Hooded and Favorite Sleipnir polls, which I've changed to public, plus the one for Chapter Select still works in my FanFiction profile. Also sorry no new champs are really introduced in this chapter, wanted to give the shipping a little focus after the last chapter plus Sona's lore got updated and I wanted to do something with that. Don't play Ranked on NA if you can let alone late at night if you want even a shred of hope for humanity to survive. Request Private Messages, Direct Messages, Reviews, Comments, Follows, Follows, Subscriptions, and Kudos are all appreciated. Hope you all enjoy the chapter and keep surviving.

Starring: Riven, Caleb, Levia, Cathy, Aki, Sona, PsyOps Sona, Koblinoid Squadron, Nidalee, DAHN, Metto and Layka, PysOps Yi, PsyOps Ezreal, PsyOps Shen, Operator Null Caleb, Battle Boss Samira, and Rival Boss Quinn.

On the fields of the Konte farmstead, Riven and Caleb are in the middle of fierce negotiations. While they've been discussing what they are to each other, Shava and Asa have been watching for the past fifteen minutes. Once C helped Monte with his gift, Calen decided to head out and check on each of his love interests. After tracking Nidalee north of the manor and asking her to accept his offer, the young Hooded was surprised by how easily she accepted. The Huntress noted that they already live together and protect the pack as one so it was an easy choice. When he pressed about potentially sharing him, she simply waves it off as a matter of pragmatism and that she wasn't raised around societal constructs. Pressing a bit more, Nidalee confesses that as long as she isn't forgotten and he doesn't get out of hand with numbers or abuses them she'll be fine. Which leads to Caleb and the noxian exile discussing their terms and conditions.

"Okay Caleb, I'll give it a chance but the other girls involved have to be alright with this." Riven firmly states in the form of an ultimatum to the Hooded. Ignoring Shava's call for grandchildren, Caleb agrees before teleporting back to his house.

"YES! Nidalee is on board and Riven is willing too. Not gonna lie, I thought I'd vomit all over that poor ox Levia." Caleb confesses before taking a seat in his study. Projecting herself out of his Hood, the ancient being curls up on his desk.

"Kind of funny that those two were so willing, I didn't expect your bonds to be this strong with them. Hell if anything I figured Sona would be the strongest, maybe not this time." Levia notes with a hint of curiosity. When Caleb asks her what she means her response is, "I mean that while you've saved Lestara, you have no personal connection to her in this timeline."

"Bull shit Levia! She was one of the first people I met after getting out of the ocean. Not to mention I brought her to my birthday party." Caleb responds back in a fit of annoyance. Thinking she is just playing a bad joke, the Hooded's paranoia only increases as the Hood itself agrees with Levia.

Angered by the entities collusion, C storms out of his study to the Sleipnir's lounge where he hopes to settle things. "Hey guys, when Sona was at my party one of you talked to her right?" C asks his friends before they unanimously agree that none of them saw her. Hearing this shatters the last of Caleb's denial, it also makes his head snap back and forth. "Oh so I was wrong and that is blood." The Hooded notes after pulling his hand away from his face, he then vomits and collapses.

"Oh shit! Metto call Gwen! Aki teleport to her! DAHN flip him so doesn't choke and help me move him!" Cathy orders amidst the chaos as the boss starts to seize. Carrying him to his room, the pair move past a now terrified Nidalee.

A week later, Caleb wakes up in his bed with an IV attached to him and Annabelle watching over him. After the ghost yordle gathers the other exhausted residents of the house, Gwen checks on Caleb and lets the Squad's questions begin.

"C what the hell happened to you? You started talking about Sona and then had an aneurysm." The sleep deprived Aki inquires of their leader. Cathy then approaches the Hooded and scans him again with her pulsefire core before coming to a conclusion.

"It looks like C is most likely experiencing something called memory bleed, I'm pretty sure the other Sleipnirs have experienced it as well. Basically he's experiencing a mix of memories from the past timeline that are transitioning to now. Sometimes filling in the blanks and overflowing others." The gynoid explains after putting her core away. She then adds that he will probably have headaches for a while but otherwise should be fine.

With the mystery solved, everyone leaves to go about their day or get some rest except Nidalee. Nidalee instead turns into cougar form and lays down next to Caleb. As she nuzzles into him, the Hooded brushes her coat before kissing her forehead.

After taking the next couple of days to recover, Caleb returns to Ionia but not to visit Riven this time. Instead he is following up on some clues that might lead him to Sona's current whereabouts. Gaining passage on a boat, the Hooded heads to the island of Galrin just south of mainland Ionia. Steering clear of Pallas, for fear of having a permanent hissing face for the trip, and crossing the Ghetu Sea desert, Caleb eventually arrives near a mountain monastery. Catechu and bael trees line the dirt path leading to the main building, typical of Ionian architecture it too looks as though it was grown.

'Look I'm just saying, if you're constantly told that something doesn't do something and you try to use it for that thing, you kind of deserve to get assimilated by a demon god.' Levia comments as Caleb stretches a bit outside. Hearing the sounds of strumming, the Hooded makes his way towards the source of the sound. He eventually finds himself inside of one of the gardens, in this place housing various fruit growing trees Caleb finds Sona giving a concert to the children.

"As amazing as I remember, okay Levia got any advice? Wait, you can see her too right?" Caleb nervously asks Leviathan especially considering his previous false encounter. When the dark entity confirms his sighting, the Hooded decides to wait for Sona to finish performing for the local orphans. Sitting down underneath an apple tree, C looks up to check if any are ripe when he sees movement.

"Who are you? Are you a new monk? Your clothes are weird, are you from the west?" Are first of many questions a young boy asks while hanging upside from a branch above the Hooded. After the stranger tells the youth to be careful, the child introduces himself as Bumi and asks Caleb what he's doing.

"Most people call me C, also didn't the monks teach you to be careful around strangers? I'm not going to hurt you or anything but watch yourself." Caleb warns Bumi while keeping an eye on his branch. "C's not a real name." Is all the kid can say before his perch breaks and he's caught midair. "True, but it works for me when I need to be thanked." C states while smiling at the ionian boy and gently putting him down.

Caleb's attention is quickly brought away from the boy by the nearby sound of clapping and grass being floated over draws. Standing there with her etwahl floating in front of her is Sona, who starts to hastily sign at Bumi. After she scolds the youngster for talking with strangers, the musician hugs the child before turning him away to play with the others. When she turns to the Hooded he simply tells her that he wishes to talk to her in private. Deciding to take this out of the monastery, the two demacians get out of sight before they start talking.

(We can use sign language, you can write in Ionian if you'd like, or even use telepathy if you can?) Caleb informs the now shocked mute musician. While she agrees to use sign language, Sona can't help but be a bit nervous, and sad.

(My family invented this language so I could feel at home. They only taught it to those we trusted and I'm sorry but I can't say that we've met before.) The bluenette quickly signs in a way that tells Caleb she's almost in tears. During his investigation, Caleb visited the Buvelle estate and this time found a depressed Lestara. Following the death of her husband and the enlistment of her biological daughter, the matriarch had Sona return to Ionia to live in peace. It takes all he has in that moment to resist the urge to hug Sona and tell her she'll be okay, let alone before telling her who he is.

"Well Sona, my name is Caleb and what I'm going to tell you is really crazy sounding. So you see recently I learned we've never met in this timeline. But in the previous one we were umm close friends. Yeah, we were friends in the past." The demacian boy nervously sputters out as he changes his confession half way. This leaves the musician confused for a bit before she starts to sign again.

(Sir, I'm sorry but I don't remember you. Also you've just dropped a lot on me and it's going to take a bit to process. But, I'm sure that as long as you don't hurt anyone then you can come back and visit. After all you helped Bumi from falling so you must not be all bad. Plus we can try being friends though if that's okay with you?) Sona tells the Hooded with a bit of a smile at the end. Putting her hand out, Lady Buvelle shakes hands with the stranger before they part ways. Making her way back to the path, she misses when the Hooded stranger teleports away and his last message, (I still love you.).

A couple weeks pass and Caleb has fallen into such a slump that he has barely left the house. Taking the rarely good advice of Levia, he then tries to cheer up by going into the Multiversal Mirror Room. This plan quickly goes south as he starts to gaze into other worlds and sees other Calebs with their respective Sonas. Needing to fix the Hooded, Levia starts to brainstorm up a new idea. She quickly suggests that maybe Caleb could, 'Maybe find another version of you with a similar problem? After all, doesn't High Noon deal with something similar?'

"Yeah but he's also really evil. I mean he's no Abel but he's pretty damn close to one. After all, the only thing that separates him from one is he ate Aatrox instead of combining with him. Not to mention he also ate Vilemaw, Galio, Nasus, Elise, Vel'koz, and Nocturne from that multiverse. But yeah, I don't see the harm in looking there." Classic Caleb says before looking for his High Noon self amongst the various reflections. In his search for the infernal cowboy however he finds himself stuck near the OPS timelines. As he tries to figure out what is happening, a familiar figure manifests next to him on the ground.

'Where… where am I? My head hurts so much.' Are the words Caleb hears in his mind, and they came from the pale haired woman. After helping her up, the Hooded can't help but wonder if Eccentric or the other Hooded had something to do with this.

"This has never happened before. I've never gazed into the mirror and had another person manifest here. Amazing." Caleb notes before he notices a gash in the back of PsyOps Sona's head. Before he can inspect the wound further, the psychic attempts to fling him back but fails.

'What?! My powers aren't working, what did you do to me and who are you?!' The enraged voice of the psionic goddess echoes in Caleb's head. Revealing his face though immediately causes the alternate mute to be taken aback, 'Caleb, how can this be?'

"I am Caleb but I'm not your version of him. If we look for your world I'm sure we can see what happened. Ah here we go." The Hooded says before the room is overtaken by the world of PsyOps. At the base of a freezing chasm, a Caleb in dark fatigues is trying his best to wrap Sona's head so she doesn't bleed out.

'I see. When the abyss opened up we fell inside, my conscious mind has vacated my body. I've known of multiverse theory and could sometimes imagine other versions of myself but I suppose this proves it. Speaking of where is the other me?' The PsyOps operative asks while looking for her alternate self. It doesn't take her long to realize no one else is there as well as Caleb's look of sadness.

"She isn't here with me. We aren't as close in this timeline." Is the Hooded's response before he takes a seat on a fake snow mound. He then explains everything that has happened lately while the psionic protege looks at her situation.

'Caleb, are you familiar with the concept of constants and variables in the multiverse? If so then tell me, how many timelines are you and me close?' The runaway songbird inquires of the Hooded. Giving it a deep thought, Caleb realizes how stupid he's been and gains a smile from the mute.

"You're right Sona, considering how many universes we are together I shouldn't let this shake me. It just means I'll have to work harder in this one." C firmly states before jumping to his feet. He joins the PsyOps member in watching the infiltrator soldier wrapping his large bandana around Sona's bleeding head.

'Good. Now then could you answer something else for me? What is the gate that the Black Rose Group keeps talking about?' The mental superweapon asks while worrying about her own timeline. Taking into consideration how long she's been in the mirror room, Sona knows she'll need to leave quickly.

"Hmm from what I recall, your timeline never had Void incursions so technology was able to progress. Considering the other dimensional beings I've heard mentioned in my glimpses there, the widespread use of psionics, and the location of the events happening there, if I had to guess the Watchers are trying to breach your world via the BRG. You must stop them because if you don't then your world will end and death is gonna seem downright pleasant if they escape." Caleb informs the alternate Sona in as matter of a factly of a voice as possible. The mute communicates her thanks, then in a moment new to her, puts her fist out for Caleb to bump. Seeing how she is struggling with human contact, the Hooded accepts her gesture before she disappears to her world. Feeling better with himself and his situation, C can't help but wonder how the Sleipnirs are doing on the volcanic island they deployed to.

During their time on said volcanic island off the coast of the Freljord, the Sleipnirs are engaged in a series of foreign relations missions. To earn the good will of the local ash trolls, the Squad is to ensure that the other inhabitants of the island, a race of diminutive dragonkin they call koblinoids, don't make any terrioritorial moves should they help C. Accepting the offer of the surprisingly intelligent giants, C's mixed bag of officers find themselves in a field of birds of paradise flowers near one of the volcano's bases. Ever since crossing the center of the island, the Sleipnirs have felt a presence watching them. Whenever they tried to investigate further however, the local koblinoids would instantly flee. Knowing they need to find some good news to cheer up C, the Sleipnir Squadron gets ready to continue searching when they feel a tremor. Suddenly in front of them, five pillars of lava erupt and make them assume combat positions. Inside of each pillar seems to be a silhouette of various sizes when looked at closely enough. Leaping from the infernal streams, a group of five koblinoids come together and form a team pose. In front of the other four is their presumed leader, he is covered from head to toe in spiky obsidian and charred plate armor with a height in the middle of the others.

"Introductions! Traeh!" The armored koblinoid shouts before the rest of his team follows his example.

"Tairon!" The largest and most muscular of the diminutive group yells in his leathery and rock studded gi.

"Yings!" A winged koblinoid in a catsuit calls out before quickly flying around the field and back to her spot.

"Iris!" Is the name that the smallest of the squad cheers while fixing her wizardry robes and hat.

"Tongu!" Roars the bone wearing cleric of the group before the cluster of dragonkin assume a new group pose.

"And together we are the Koblinoid Special Squad! Prepare to face the Dragonkins' Might interlopers!" They cry out together in a show of solidarity before all five unleash their Tambora Beam breath weapon on the Sleipnirs. Cathy then barely has time to say "Oh shit!" before a massive explosion consumes them and a mushroom cloud of ashes rises. Back with Caleb in the mirror room, the only thought he has on the Sleipnirs is, 'They're probably fine.'.

A month later, with the koblinoids helping in the Freljord against a Winter's Claw incursion and the Sleipnirs in Ionia due to seismic activity, Caleb is in his study with a rubik's cube. While struggling with two of the sides not matching, he receives a transmission from the Sleipnirs for backup. Arriving in Pallis, C barely avoids a chunk of building falling and crushing him. Looking up he sees what has given the Sleipnirs such trouble, a massive empyrean dragon has been infected with Varus' blight. Before Caleb can get close enough to engage it in combat, the wound and sore covered being is already leaving the portside village. Descending from the cloudy skies is Cathy and Metto. While they are retrieving C, Aki and DAHN are currently following the corrupted beast in the Roc. When asked about the civilian population, the squadmates inform the Hooded that Aki handled the evacuation with DAHN. With Cathy and Metto now each holding a Coercion line, the duo fly off with C to chase after their draconic prey. During the flight, Cathy also informs C that they've already managed to destroy a blight stack that was located on the dragon's back.

Unfortunately due to high wind speeds, it ends up taking the trio several hours to find their friends near the edge of the Ghetu Sea. In the air, DAHN is using the Roc's cannon to pepper the empyrean in rapid blaster fire. Meanwhile Aki is spotted on the ground and is using his shadow dragon's fist to fight the massive beast. Even as it's blight stacks give the dragon enhanced regeneration, the dragon still is shook when a massive shadow fist uppercuts it. This attack actually succeeds in completely dislocating the empyrean's jaw and revealing one of the blight stacks inside the creature's mouth. Before it is able to reform it's mouth, the Roc fires a charged blast from it's cannon and destroys the parasite. A consequence of this action though is massive rotten death then begins to rain from the DAHN is forced to make an emergency landing to avoid the creature's flailing, Aki is barely saved by C with Spectral Form when it's necrotic blood almost douses him. The infested empyrean's erratic and bone snapping movements then reveal to not just be a reaction to pain, but also a horrifyingly change in shape. Fully unhinging it's lower jaw, the most startling change comes through when the top half of it's head snaps in half to create another mouth. With the metamorphosis complete, the former dragon unleashes a torrent of dark ichor as a breath attack. Caleb is simply able to go spectral to avoid the attack, but it's too quick to help Aki again. This leaves a now breathless Shadow Wyrm unable to completely dodge the downpour of death and it sears his left arm.

"Ahhhh! Fuck! Wait, what the hell?! No no no no!" Is Aki's panicked reaction as the toxins on his arm reform into a new blight worm. Struggling to hold it from burrowing into him, he is only saved when C uses spectral form to grab the creature and pull it out.

Aki is left nearly in tears as he now can't feel anything but an intense burning sensation in his arm. In a small fit of rage, he unleashes a bolt of shadow fire on the writhing creature. Done turning the nearby area into a waste, the infested host turns and leaves over the nearby mountains. Stumbling out of the Roc, DAHN makes it's way over to Caleb and Aki before having to take a breather. It turns out that DAHN hasn't consumed anything today and is rapidly losing energy as a result. Making the call, C tells his two weakened Sleipnirs to retreat back to the manor despite some protesting from Aki. Stitching up the teen's arm as best he can with Coercion, the Hooded moves to pilot the Roc while Aki and DAHN teleport out.

While flying towards the twisted being, Caleb hears the Roc's side door open and Cathy steps in. After C notifies the Cyber Pilot of Aki and DAHN's conditions, she takes control and flies them close to the dragon's back. Leaping onto the beast, Caleb uses his Coercion lines to anchor himself to the infected creature. As he starts to hack at the empyrean's scales, the Hooded leaps off when his ride crashes into something. Layka manages to fly by and catch him which gives C a chance to see what exactly happened. It would seem that the corpse of a dragon slammed into a local cloud drinker, a large flying fish like creature. Hearing loud moans of agony from the peaceful creature only confirms their worst case scenario, the creatures are fusing. As the new horror finishes forming, it expunges a massive pile of liquified insides onto the nearby mountainside. This decaying flood ends up triggering a landslide that begins to descend towards a village in one of the nearby valleys. Desperately shouting for Cathy to stop the toxic mass, Caleb can only hope that she can help before Metto flies after the mutant.

On the Cyber Pilot's end, she notices how the blighted blood destroys any plants in it's way. To counter this, she comes up with a plan to use the Roc's cannon on some nearby boulders to create a barrier. With this in mind, the gynoid quickly gets to work but her progress is proving too slow. As the dread of failure due to being only one person sets in, a roar snaps her to attention. From a shadow portal, a fully mutated DAHN emerges with the Koblinoids and a healed Aki on his back. After devouring a massive amount of meat and sugar, the zaunite bioweapon is now over ten feet tall, has grown an extra set of limbs, dozens of boney spikes on the top of half of it's back, and it's whole body, with the exception of it's bone spears and claws, is now muscular colored save a silver carapace covering the top half their head. Using said bone spears, DAHN deploys them with tendrils to rip out nearby trees to reinforce the rubble wall Cathy made. With their new height advantage, the Koblinoids unleash their Tambora Beams and create a trench in front of the new flood gate. Knowing his shadows can't be affected, Aki uses the shadow dragon's hands to slow down the flood of rotting meat. Finally, as DAHN secures the barrier with it's body, C's champions combine their Tambora Beams, Concussive Cannon, and Shadow Fireball abilities to erode the approaching mass. Their teamwork comes to fruition as the now smaller wave crashes into the makeshift barrier but it holds. It doesn't take long before the mitigated wave is absorbed via the ground and it starts to heavily rain. Boarding the Roc to help Metto and C, and avoid the massive downpour, both teams can only hope they can arrive in time. As they take off however a massive blue, white, and purple light flashes and blinds the combined parties. Knowing it's a massive burst of Pumpkin Energy, the Cyber Pilot speeds up to the source of the now large beam piercing the clouds.

After losing some unwanted weight, the horror appears as a massive skeletal whale covered in transparent pale skin, a missing stomach, and writhing hair like tendrils covering it's body. As the undulating creature flies away from the landslide it caused, Metto and C give chase. Taking into account his previous encounter with an infested, Caleb masks up before the Wind Shepherd drops him off on the horror's back. Using Pumpkin Slashes, the Hooded gets to work on destroying the beast left wing while Layka does the same to the right. Completing their objectives, they unfortunately learn that the outer shell is expendable when the creature's flight is undisturbed. Caleb also learns first hand that it's also completely malleable when it sucks him inside. Surrounded by squirming and grasping tendrils, Caleb escapes being quartered by going spectral. On his way out of the body, he does manage to locate the last blight stack which is acting as a heart. Back on the outside, the freljordian woman notices that the target is heading towards a nearby monastery. Using her superior speeds, Layka lands near the orphanage's entrance as it starts to rain heavily. When several monks start to ask the woman why she's there, the mother shouts for them to go back inside. They barely have time to ask why before heeding her order as the empyrean and cloud drinker hybrid approaches. Feeling a shift in the air pressure, Metto instinctively summons a bubble of controlled air around herself and the monastery. This pays off when the infested opens it's maw and starts to suck in everything in front of it. Using her mastery over the winds, Metto is able to keep those in her bubble from being inhaled. Driven on pure instinct at this point, the giant creature decides to simply crash into the sanctuary when it's original plan fails. In pure desperation, the Wind Shepherd tries to assault the monster with more wind slashes but this proves futile. With her attacks being foiled by regeneration, the two women decide to just focus on pushing it away and buying time. Even with her great powers however, Metto is in a losing battle but her efforts are rewarded when Caleb makes his way next to her.

"Sorry I'm late Metto. I can handle it from here but be ready in case I need you. Now as for you! It's past time you moved on from this world. Pumpkin Beam, fire." Caleb says before he pours his soul into shooting a beam of Pumpkin Energy from his cupped hands. As the beam of azurite is spiraled by purple and white slams into the abomination, it begins to disintegrate it's mutilated form.

A few seconds of this pass and the Hooded realizes his attack isn't working as planned. By shifting all of it's mass in front of the core, the infested has turned into a grotesque flying shield. Looking to his side, Caleb sees Layka trying to push the creature back but she's growing exhausted. Turning around, he notices the monks trying to sooth some of the younger children. From among the crowd quickly emerges Sona with her etwahl. Knowing she can help the pair, the musical prodigy begins to weave a soothing melody. Feeling themselves regaining energy, Metto actually manages to force the creature back while C stops firing to regroup.

'Okay Caleb, recall your core traits and how they relate to here. Ferocity is my worst but I really despise this blighted and want it gone from this world. Honor is supposedly my best and while I don't see it, I do know that I have to save these people. Lastly is my Valor, if I don't do this then everyone here is going to die. Metto, Sona, these kids who've already lost everything, the monks that make their lives less terrible, and before all that myself. But that only happens if I fail and I can only fail if I give up; so I won't! So come on little flame of mine and let's try this again!' "Dark Armor on! Pumpkin Beam, Fire!" Are the words Caleb gutturally shouts before firing another Pumpkin Beam. This time however it comes out even more powerful than before, as it always does when Caleb feels pushed to the edge.

As the ground shatters underneath his armored boots, the Hooded's beam slams into the former dragon. Burning away faster than it can regenerate, the creature is unable to stop the attack before it destroys it's core and kills it. By the time Caleb stops firing, all that remains of the monster is a floating ring of ash. Layka then uses her wind powers to clean away the remnants of the beast, before she and C fall down from exhaustion. Dispersing his armor, Caleb crawls through the muddy ground and fist bumps the Sleipnir. As the mute girl floats near the foreigners, she notices the Hooded give her a thumbs up before the monks bring them inside.

An hour later, after cleaning up the nearby area, the Sleipnirs and Koblinoids decide to leave while C stays behind for a bit. While working on something in the garden, Caleb is surrounded by awe inspired children asking his questions. Gently stepping away from one of the trees, the Hooded accidently trips over one of the smaller children. Before he squashes said four year old, Caleb quickly goes spectral and disappears into the ground. As the cluster of younglings panic from their guest disappearing, Sona rushes over to comfort them but ends up crashing into C when he emerges. A local volunteer then appears to gather the children for lunch. This leaves the disappointed group of orphans to say their goodbyes to the Hooded, while he and Sona get back up.

"Well I should get going soon too. If I don't then Dahn might empty my fridge, apparently getting rid of all that extra umm weight makes them hungry again." Caleb tells the mute before he gets ready to teleport out. He is stopped when she puts a hand on his shoulder and starts to sign.

(Thank you Caleb, you and the others. If not our home would've been destroyed by that monster. You all were very brave for helping people you didn't have to.) Sona tells the Hooded, while also avoiding his gaze. This only works for a bit before Caleb curves his body to look into her blue eyes and blushing face.

(Look Sona about what I said before, I was really nervous and let my mouth run wild. I would like to get to know you as more than just friends. However, if you'd prefer we can stay as just friends but maybe in time we can try to be more. Basically I have feelings for you Sona but no matter what we are I'm gonna do what I can to make it work.) Caleb nervously signs his confession to the bluenette. Sona then takes his hands and pulls her fellow demacian into a hug. From that single gesture, the Hooded knows that in this timeline they can make whatever this is work.

* * *

Spotlight Featuring: Koblinoid Squadron, The Dragonkins' Might

Passive: Koblinoid Tokusentai Assemble!- Captain Traeh takes up the level up points at Levels 1 and 18 while also serving as the main body. Upon finishing rank ups for an ability, it grants the Koblinoid Squadron a percent bonus to certain stats. At Level 18 these bonuses are multiplied by five and each Koblinoid unit gains these bonuses.

Bow to our posing!- Using the dance command brings all active Koblinoid Units near Captain Traeh, even if he's isolated.

Q: Lava Bomber!- Tairon smashes down from the sky in a fiery explosion that damages all units and turrets caught in it.

Summon Tairon- Tairon is a tanky unit that deals bonus damage to structures. His maxed out stat is Max Health.

W: Obsidian Blitz!- Yings swoops down to an enemy champion and begins to rapidly blink among all nearby enemy champions to hit them, this can hit the same one up to five times.

Summon Yings- Yings is a speedy unit that deals bonus damage to champions. Her maxed out stat is Movement Speed.

E: Diamond Shield!- Iris uses her magic to shield all nearby Koblinoids and minions.

Summon Iris- Iris is a supportive unit that attacks from a distance and grants sight of enemies hit. She grants Bonus Armor and Magic Resist when maxed out.

R: Tambora Beam!- All present Koblinoids fire a breath beam which converges with the others, if Bow to our Posing! used then all available beams are fired from Traeh.

Summon Tongu- Tongu is an artillery unit that lobs aoe autos from a distance and deals bonus damage to minions. His maxed out stat is Ability Power.

* * *

Variables and Constants Short: PsyOps 1

On the snowy borders of the Freljord and Demacia, a helicopter dispatched by High Command is landing at a local ranch. Operatives Yi and Ezreal have been dispatched to the area to recruit a local with unique abilities. Making their way towards a cabin at the edge of a nearby forest of pines, the two notice someone chopping wood. They are a young, brunette man and despite having guests he continues his daily task.

"Excuse me sir but we are looking for someone. Do you by chance know a woman by the name of Nita?" Yi asks of the civilian who stops and turns to face the soldier. The young man then throws his ax at the pair and confirms that they are psionic when Ezreal stops it.

"If you're looking for Nita then I recommend going about a mile west of here and six feet in the ground. Now if you all are done following shitty intel, please kindly fuck off my property. Lucky my partners aren't out here because we don't take kindly to High Command. Especially after the shit you did to Riven, you broke that poor woman." Caleb informs the pair of pawns before pulling out a cigarette. Ezreal then uses his powers to toss back the ax but with less than successful results. Upon it getting within a few feet of the rude rancher, the tool flops to the ground.

"It would seem our intel wasn't entirely faulty since we came here for you Caleb Fleetfoot. High Command requires your expertise in stealth operations and abilities for a special mission, they are willing to bargain greatly for your aid." Yi adds as a means of luring the former operative into service once again. Ezreal, still curious about what happened early, tries to shoot his lucky dagger at the man. Just like the ax from earlier it loses force before flopping harmlessly near him.

"Yeah, no matter what you do pal it's not going to work. Apparently if it's psionic related then it won't work near me. But then again, if someone tosses something big or close enough it can still hurt like it was soft tossed at me. Anyways, can't you PsyOps guys handle this? Are you trying to tell me you fucks ruined Riven's mind for nothing?! She can only whisper to me and Nidalee and that's when she's not looking off into space!" The veteran yells at the two operatives. Before he gets ready to throw them off his property, Nidalee makes herself known from the house.

"Caleb lunch is almost down and it's starting to feel chilly so bring in some firewood. As for you two, you can wait right out here. Don't worry we'll have an answer for you soon but our house is kind of a safe space from lackeys." The co-owner of the property tells the operatives. Taking the blatant hint, Yi and Ezreal communicate to their ride to wait a bit longer than expected.

Meanwhile inside of the cabin, Nidalee and Caleb start to discuss what they should do. After watching Riven coddling one of their cats, the pair come up with their terms. Heading back outside, Caleb delivers his ultimatum to the PsyOps members.

"I want ten million dollars and for you all to stay the fuck away from our homestead forever. These aren't negotiable terms and remember you need me, I don't need you." The brunette informs the duo of soldiers, to which Yi agrees. After confirming the demands with High Command, Caleb agrees to be deployed in a week's time.

After a long week of training and strategizing, Operation Aphids begins several miles off the coast of the Freljord. It begins with a submarine moving in just outside of the motion sensors of a nearby military port. This formerly abandoned outpost was recently operated by the infamous terrorist faction known as the Black Rose Group. Eventually the High Command vessel leaves for deeper waters, but not before it deploys a special torpedo. When said torpedo is detected on the base's radar and motion sensors it comes off as nothing more than a seal. Making it's way into a submarine hangar, the torpedo then splits open and Caleb in a drysuit emerges. Sneaking his way behind some nearby crates, the operative starts to strip off his drysuit and reveals his gray combat uniform and black combat vest. As he rolls out a large bandana that once belonged to Nita, and puts it on, Caleb recalls his briefing.

"You are to infiltrate this base and locate a server. After finding one, you are to use a hacking device to copy the base's schematic and send them to use. We've also gotten word from a double agent that there is a secret weapon in development here. Apparently it's psionic based, hence why we're sending you. If you can; discover this secret weapon and destroy it. There are also rumors of powerful psionic users gathering in the area so watch out for unusual characters. We will have to be sent in via a Marai Deployment Torpedo so you'll be lightly equipped. You should be able to bring with you a hacking device, a combat knife, and a semi automatic pistol. Finally your codename for this mission will be Null. Dismissed." Are the words from Shen that echoes through operative Null's mind. Meanwhile in the center of the base, a lone woman notices from her cage that there is now a space her mind can't peer into.

* * *

Variables and Constants Short: Arcade 2

On a platform in the middle of a starry void, two combatants arrive to settle a dispute in one versus one combat with no items. Arriving via her wolfen two, Battle Boss Samira flips out of the speeding ship and draws her duel blasters. On the other side of the arena, a thin blue line appears in the air before it tears open and a figure emerges; Rival Boss Quinn. In contrast to the mercenary's more extravagant and futuristic look, Quinn is wearing dark casual attire and her favorite dark blue long coat. As the one eyed woman fires several pot shots at the stoic twin, Quinn merely spins her katana in front of her and disperses the shots. Acknowledging that she isn't dealing with a noob, Samira pulls out her laser sword, which comes out as a serrated blade, and rushes her opponent. Before her Wild Rush can hit though, Quinn teleports and reappears above Samira. Now donning a pair of armored boots, the Rival Boss dive kicks down in a comet of light and somersaults off Samira's head. At the zenith of her maneuver, Quinn summons and launches three spectral swords at the mercenary. Spinning her lycan blade, the fighter pilot deflects the phantasmal blades. Samira then slams her foot into the ground before rocketing in a blaze of purple forward. The surprise burst of speed catches Quinn off guard and allows for Samira to slash her stomach. Taking a knee, Quinn's wound seals shut before her organs can come out as her regeneration heals almost instantly.

"Mmm not bad. I guess I can start trying a bit and go into phase two." Quinn confidently declares while she rolls her shoulders. Forming a ball of shadows in her hand, the elder twin then fires it at her opponent with a smirk.

While it's in mid flight, the ball starts to leave feathers behind it before transforming. It turns out to be Dark Valor, who upon slamming into Samira explodes into electricity before flying away. With a flick of her finger, Quinn sends a barrage of summoned swords at the mercenary. Reacting quickly, Samira begins dash dancing, rolling, and blocking as many of the ghostly blades as possible. Quickly retaliating after being on the defensive, Samira starts to rush Quinn while firing her blasters. As the Rival Boss is busy deflecting the shots, her Battle Boss foe tosses a grenade between them. Seeing Quinn raise her guard for the upcoming explosion, Samira opts to instead leap over the primed explosive. Using the blast to propel herself into the air, the one eyed woman then starts to rain blaster fire all around her. Not prepared for such an attack, Quinn is peppered in shots and takes another knee.

"Ha! When I heard from Veigar that you cut down Brand and went rogue I thought you'd be stronger, guess not. Then again you always lost to Cero in the end so he must be the stronger twin. Hell, take this gold and maybe you can hire him out to fight me instead." Samira taunts the older twin before flicking a coin at her. Growling, Quinn slices the currency in half mid flight and gets up. While Quinn is normally fine playing along with opponents that taunt; this time Samira hit the Cero button.

"Okay, now I'm motivated. As for you then CINO, I am not going to delete you; but only because I need a messenger for the so-called Final Boss. I am no one's puppet because might controls everything and I am everything. So just sit back, relax, and see why…" Quinn monologues to Samira before a dark ball of purple energy surrounds her. Feeling herself being pulled toward the sphere, Samira starts to fire at the Rival Boss but her bubble deflects the shots. "You're not worthy as my opponent." Is all the now guttural sounding voice of Quinn says before the shell shatters.

Standing there in her demonic glory, Quinn's body is now over a foot taller with her skin turning chitinous and covered in a scale like armor. Once serious amber eyes are now transformed into cold blue orbs of pure energy. On her back are now four demonic wings acting as her coat as well as a long barbed tail from the middle of her back. The two horns on her head, as well as her forearms, are channeling a steady stream of blue energy. Roaring, Quinn instantly closes the gap to Samira and grabs her by jaw before cutting open a portal with her blade. Going through it, the pair are taken to a pocket dimension where Quinn can recreate places from her memories. In this case, the two are transported near a Victorian era mansion where Quinn grew up as a child. Being ever the honorable and fair one, Quinn gives Samira a special house tour. First she takes her through the foyer, then the foundations, and finally to her old room on the third floor before going towards a lonely tree outside. "You're Behind Enemy Lines! Now prepare to die!" Is all the warning Quinn gives before she disappears. In her wake, she unleashes a flurry of imperceivable slashes around the pair while it rains summoned swords. This series of attacks is so destructive that it even shatters the pocket dimension. With shards of reality falling all around them, the two Bosses are returned to the Final Destination. While Samira is left severely damaged, Quinn returns to her human form and slowly sheathes her blade. When she finishes, a now unconscious Samira is sent flying off the edge in a burst of rainbow colored light. "GAME!"

"Come on Val, we've gotta go give Cero his memories back. This storm is approaching and I want to have a good fight. Plus I could go for a burger." Quinn says with a small smile before slicing open a portal to the lands of the Arcade. Arriving in a forest clearing, the pale haired woman looks and sees a nearby goblin encampment. It would see that the rookie team of RGB is taking the day to farm; and they're being watched over by their guardian, Cero.


End file.
